I Used to be Like You
by RoseOfSymbolism
Summary: Ignis, a unicorn filly, has been abducted and taken from her parents, along with five other ponies, by a mysterious and almighty Alicorn. Throughout the events of I Used to be Like You, Ignis explores the kingdom of Inversus in her attempts to learn more about her captor and how to return home.
1. Chapter 1: Just like everypony else

I was like you once.

I was just like everypony else. I went to school, practiced magic, and played with my friends in the royal city of Canterlot.

It was a nice life. I really liked it.

I wish I could go back…

After a simply dreadful sleep of about 3 or 4 hours, I wake up, circles still under my golden eyes. I roll over, readjust my body, and desperately try to squeeze in some more, but I just can't. My body is screaming at me to wake up. And besides, I would just have more nightmares and bad memories of the day I got abducted and taken away from my parents. So I push my covers aside and hop down from bed.

I look around my chamber of a room, at the bare stone walls and floor. The only things of interest are my bed, window, bedside table, and the magnificent, almost royal door that stands is at the wall parallel to my bed. I stretch and yawn loudly.

Then suddenly, I remember about the daily ritual I must attend.

I spin around on the spot and stare at the digital clock on my bedside table, displaying the time to be 9:20. My eyes widen in shock and I gasp, realizing that I'm late!

I use my orange magic that flickers like flames to open the large door quickly. I dart out the door and turn left, then gallop down the hallway as fast as I can. I don't want to be any later than I already am. As I speed down the long hallway, I shudder in fear at what kind of horrible punishment must be ahead of me. Would he _kill_ me? I'm too young to die. I haven't even gotten my cutie mark yet.

I continue down the long hallway. I'm in such a hurry that I don't even stare at the statues depicting a majestic and proud Alicorn, and I don't notice the way the flames on the torches seem to bend towards me. Then I arrive at the great door. A door so large and so heavy that I can't open it, even with magic.

I'm afraid of what kind of terrible price I'll have to pay once I enter the throne room. So, shaking from crimson mane to crimson tail, I knock on the door. I start to sweat and shudder. I sit there for a while, and after a few seconds nothing has happened yet. I'm just turning around to head back and check the clock again when the door bursts open without warning. I felt like I was about to jump out of my bright red coat when I heard the royal voice bellow my name.

"IGNIS!" roared the Alicorn sitting at the throne. "Thou art late, and have disturbed mine ritual!"

I look at the five other ponies. Two pegasi, two earth ponies, and a unicorn are all bowing before the Alicorn and chanting. The Alicorn has a frown on his face. His feathers look ruffled, as does his bright gray coat. His mane, which is long and flowing, is the color of the sky when twilit. After all, he is the King of Dawn: Rex Aurora.

"Rex Aurora, our god and savior…" chant the other ponies, who look irritated.

I look back at Rex Aurora and declare, "I didn't interrupt anything! They're still worshiping you!"

Rex Aurora simply points to the spot in front of him, next to the other Unicorn. I refuse to move.

"Ignis. Thou wilt get on the spot, or thou wilt suffer the consequences."

"No," I say defiantly. Then I feel myself being lifted up into the air. I'm surrounded by a pale yellow glow. Rex Aurora's horn is glowing in the same color, and I am set down on the spot. I try to break free of the spell, but Rex Aurora's spell is much too powerful. I can't even talk.

This, among other things, goes on for another half hour. Then we are dismissed. While the other ponies trot out of the room casually, I gallop back to my room at full speed. I don't care if I get more nightmares; I want some sleep, especially after that dreadful forced ritual. I wonder what must be going through the other ponies' heads, but soon stop wondering as I get to the door leading to my room.

I open it with my magic and then jump into my beloved bed, pulling the covers over me with magic. Then I fall into a deep slumber.

It's not a pleasant sleep.

I dream of what happened to me 2 months ago…

It was cold and it was raining heavily. Despite this, and the fact that it was midnight, I was practicing magic in my room. My parents were downstairs, preparing to send a letter to the Wonderbolts asking for a change in the weather. I soon mastered a spell for levitating objects. But then, suddenly, everything went quiet. I went downstairs and saw my parents, unconscious on the ground. I gasped and ran toward them, checking their heartbeats. They were alive, but strangely cold to the touch. In fact, the whole area had gotten colder. Furniture and banisters were toppled and broken, and there were dents in the walls as if a huge fight had taken place. However, I couldn't see anypony else, even after thoroughly looking through the house. I then noticed that dawn had risen, and that bright yellow light was shining through windows and the cracks and holes in the walls. However, the light somehow felt… unnatural… like it was simulated. I was getting very scared at this point. I heard a loud crash noise come from the area of the front door. My tail and mane straightened out at this point, and I screamed. Shuddering, I turned around to face the door. Nothing was there, but the door had been knocked off its hinges and lay in two on the floor. My parents were still on the floor, but they started coming to, and I waved my hooves in front of them.

"Mom! Dad! What happened?" I ask.

Suddenly, they gasped. My mother shrieked, "Ignis! BEHIND YOU!" with a terrified look on her face. My father simply gaped at something behind me. At that moment, my blood ran cold, and I looked behind me to see an imposing Alicorn who was completely shrouded in darkness. He grabbed me with an impenetrable magic barrier and started taking me up into the air and away. I saw my parents desperately calling out to me and reaching for my hoof. But I couldn't do anything. I was teleported away, and I haven't seen them since.

I wake up. I must have slept for a long time, as it has gotten dark out, and rain has begun to fall. Looking out the window, I reflect on that fateful night…

And decide I want to go back.


	2. Chapter 2: Maybe a little bit different

"Yes," I whisper to myself. I pace back and forth, wondering how I will make my escape, talking to myself the entire time.

"I could escape through the window, but I've tried that before... Reinforced glass... Magic doesn't even make it budge. Well, there's got to be some kind of secret exit, or a few rooms I don't know about... I mean, I've only been here for a month or two..."

Eventually, through my rambling, my lips become soar and I begin to thirst. Seeing this as a prime opportunity to explore the fortress, I use some heat magic on my eyes to make them appear sunken and droopy, as if I'm tired, and I walk out of my room, struggling to push the door open with my hooves alone.

I look straight ahead of me and see a majestic, dark purple door. That's where the other unicorn lives. Then I make a right and start heading down a long, barely familiar corridor.

Trotting down the hall, I look to my left and right and see four other doors that are majestic, and colored like their corresponding pony's coat.

The cyan door must be that cocky pony's room. I groan at the thought of the selfish, arrogant fool.

The sandy-colored door must lead to... HIS room. I shudder at the thought of the earth pony whose mask strikes fear into my heart.

The dark blue door is probably the big, strong pegasus' room. I like him. He's handsome.

And the last one, lime green, by process of elimination, must lead to the crazy mare's room. I speed up my pace, not wanting to think about her.

It's at this point when I stop and look at the torches. Their flames seem to be leaning towards me significantly. I wonder what this could mean.

I disregard the idea and continue along. At the end of the hallway, it is split into two paths. The left is a staircase that leads up into the kitchen, among other things, but I'm not thirsting for water anymore. Just adventure. So I turn to the door on the right. I've never gone down the door on the right before, as it's off-limits and the door is locked up...

But who's going to stop me now?

I use my horn to pick the lock, combined with a spell, and shove the door open. Turning left, I see that there is a very big door at the end of a grand hallway, complete with a long red carpet and two marble columns on either side of the door. Instinct yells at me. That must be the exit!

So I trot slowly down the narrow hall, which widens into a grand hall, which is being patrolled by Alicorns. They look sharp and alert, like they can see every tiny movement from the corner of their eyes. I dash back into the narrow hall and start hyperventilating. I almost got caught there! Oh, how horrible that would have been...

But I poke my head out again. And on closer inspection, the figures are not real Alicorns, but are in fact illusions made of light yellow magic. It dawns on me that Rex Aurora must be the cause of these. Only now do I realize how strong he is when it comes to magic, and I truly begin to question if doing this is worth it.

I decide it is, backing down into the narrow corridor to think this over. What I don't know is how I will break out with the guards here. Then a barrel in the corner near the door grabs my attention.

I look back in the grand hall for a split second and see more barrels in the corners, and next to the columns, which in turn are next to the door.

Maybe...

I pry open the barrel near me with my horn's natural mundane strength and climb inside. It's times like this where I'm glad I'm so young and small. Then I levitate myself, with some difficulty, and land back down with the barrel covering my entire body. I cackle quietly, carve two eye holes in the barrel, with my horn, and start crawling forward, slowly but surely.

I just now realize how many figures there are, and I slow my pace a little bit. I keep at it for what feels like ages until one of them stops and looks directly at me with its red, unblinking eyes.

I freeze on the spot.

It starts walking toward me. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and I'm beginning to sweat quite a bit.

It picks up the barrel. I push against the sides of the barrel with my forelegs and pull my hindlegs and tail up as close to my main body mass as I can. I look out of the eye holes and see that it's taking me over to the barrels surrounding the columns.

"This is too easy," I think. The barrel, though, which is old and dilapidated, is starting to give in to the pressure I'm putting on it. I begin to worry about the barrel, which is starting to fall apart.

When the figure puts the barrel down, he turns around immediately, and good thing, too. The barrel falls to pieces when it hits the floor, and I dart out to behind the column as fast as possible. I hear the magical Alicorn illusion picking up the broken pieces of the barrel. My eyes and face then light up as I see the grand door ahead of me. But then it dawns on me that I don't know how I'm going to open it without getting caught by the illusions. I sit there and think for a long amount of time, my brain starting to hurt, when suddenly it dawns on me that I should cause a distraction.

So I take a stance and attempt a magic spell. I was never very good at magic, and this is very risky, but it's the only way...

I shoot a ball of fire at the clustered group of barrels that is farthest from me and they ignite. The Alicorns gallop over to the barrels and start using magic to extinguish the flames, albeit slowly.

So then, I run up to the door. Suddenly I realize the massive size of the door, and that this is just like the door that I wasn't able to open yesterday when I was late for the ritual. But nothing's stopping me now!

I cast a spell on the door and start pushing on it with all my might, both magical and physical. I look behind and see that the flames are almost extinguished. I look back, my heart pounding and my horn making flickering noises, and creak open the door. From there I push as hard as I've ever pushed in my life, and the door opens more. Looking back again, only a few small flames are burning in the corner, and some of the Alicorns are turning around. I push harder, squeeze through the doors, and then gallop away from the fortress at full speed. I don't even care to look back at the fortress because frankly, I don't ever want to see it again! I'm free!

I'm galloping through the fields of green at high speeds, my crimson mane billowing in the wind. I haven't been outside in a few months, and I'd forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is. Despite this, something just didn't feel... Right...

Looking around, I can't see any sign of civilization. Even though the plantlife is lush and atmospheric, there is no sign of life anywhere. There aren't any ponies or animals. I look through the grass, and I don't even see any insects scurrying to and fro.

Then I realize how quiet it is. This place is starting to seriously scare me. The fact that I'm the only moving thing within miles by now is incredibly disturbing, and I get the feeling that something is about to go horribly wrong...

Soon, I come across some odd flowers with brilliant blue leaves. I stop on the spot, carefully trot around them, then continue my mad dash for home, or at least a sign of it. Poison Joke is not something to mess with.

I realize the Poison Joke becoming more common, and much harder to avoid. Squinting to look off in the distance, I can see a towering cluster of trees and other flora. That must be the Everfree forest. I remember looking at it through the window in my house in Canterlot and wondering what was in there.

Time to find out.

The first thing I take note of is the noise. I can hear all kinds of animals squawking and barking, among many other noises, and after being in such a wasteland it's good to hear this. These and other ambient noises of the forest, combined with the beams of light now descending upon the grass from the parting of the leaves, makes me feel at home.

While I'm lost in thought, my hooves feel an unusual, unfamiliar kind of grass or flower. I look down and shriek when I see that I've stepped on Poison Joke.

I don't care about looking at my surroundings anymore, the damage has already been done. I wonder what kind of terrible curse has befallen me now that I've stepped on the flowers. I just gallop. I gallop as fast as I can.

Eventually, I see light sparkling in a clearing at the forest's end, and I finally feel the warmth of genuine, fresh sunlight on my coat. It feels so overwhelmingly great that I fall down on the spot and roll around in the grass, giggling the entire time. After a while I get up and look at what's ahead of me. I see so many things that are familiar. I see the huge mountain, and I see Canterlot on it. It looks so majestic and important from down here.

Just ahead is the small town of Ponyville. Just now, I realize I've never been to Ponyville. I've always wondered what it was like. So I happily trot toward the town and start looking at what there is to see, and if I would get any warm welcomes.

However, everypony seemed to be hiding from me.

Why would they do that? Was it the Poison Joke? Has something happened to me? I search the town, trying to get answers to these questions and many more. Eventually I come across an important-looking building carved into a large tree that had an inviting-looking door on the front. I stood on my hindlegs and knocked on the door with my front hooves. Then I waited for an answer.

After a few seconds I heard what sounded like a young colt and a mare arguing with each other. It seemed like they were talking about whether or not I should be let in. Eventually, the colt must have given in, because a bright purple unicorn mare with a dark purple mane came up to the door and looked down at me. I looked into her eyes, and she gasped slightly.

"Oh my word," she says with a worried expression on her face. She opens up the door and I'm let inside.

Looking around, I see more books than I've ever seen in one place. It even gives of a smell of newly-printed books. A purple and green baby dragon is standing next to the unicorn, watching me carefully, almost like I'm some sort of animal that must be observed. I've never seen a baby dragon before...

"I'm Twilight Sparkle," said the unicorn. "What's your name?"

"Ignis," I reply.

"Where did you come from?"

I tell her my whole story. Of how I was abducted by Rex Aurora, how I was forced to obey his every command, and how I had escaped and found my way here.

"...That's what I thought..."

"What is?"

"That you got abducted by Rex Aurora. He wants to use you for something... But I don't know what. You've become corrupted."

"I've- w-WHAT?"

Twilight Sparkle casts a magical spell that forms a halo in midair showing my reflection. Staring into my own eyes, I see that they've become warped and altered. I no longer have irises. I only have pupils, and it looks terrifying. I turn away from the halo, not wanting to see my own face.

"What can we do about this?" I ask. I'm starting to get scared thinking of what will happen to me because of the corruption.

"Well, sorry, but you'll continue being corrupted until Rex Aurora is defeated. Even if you've escaped his fortress, his magic still surrounds you so that you will be identifiable as one of his."

"GET IT OFF! PLEASE!" I'm starting to really freak out over this whole corruption business. "What does he want to do to me?!"

"I don't know! Ponies have been disappearing a lot recently, and if you've been abducted by him, chances are he's behind the rest of the disappearances as well. So this can't be good."

Twilight turns to the dragon.

"Spike, fetch me the hard copy of 'A Guide to Alicorns'."

The dragon eagerly says, "Yes, ma'am!" And starts looking for a book among all the others. Throughout this, she reassures me and tells me that everything will be okay. It doesn't help all that much, knowing how powerful Rex Aurora is.

Eventually, the dragon named Spike walks up to us with a thick book in hand, whose white cover reads 'A GUIDE TO ALICORNS'.

"Thank you, Spike." Twilight levitates the book in front of her and goes to the index to look for Rex Aurora.

"Rex Aurora, Rex Aurora, Rex Aurora..." She mutters to herself. "Ah! There we go!" She flips to a page and starts reading aloud.

"Rex Aurora: The king of dawn. Rex Aurora, distantly related to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, is an Alicorn ruling over Inversus, a kingdom bordering Equestria. Little is known about him and his kingdom, as trespassers are not allowed, and it is impossible for anypony to escape him if he has captured them."

Twilight Sparkle used magic to insert a bookmark into the page, then she put the book down on a table in the center of the room.

"That's not a lot of information," I remark.

"You must have more, Ignis." She makes a quill pen and paper float over to Spike. "Spike, take notes on what she says." She turns to me. "Tell me everything you saw, and everything you know about Rex Aurora and Inversus."

I explain to her. "Well, his magic is impossibly powerful. He can take control of other ponies, create copies of himself, open enormous doors with ease, and teleport."

Spike writes it down, occasionally looking at me attentively.

"Inversus is a scary place. There's plants everywhere, but no cities or towns or buildings at all, except for his fortress. Nopony lives there at all. It's barren. Whenever you're there, you always get the feeling that somepony... Or something... Is watching you. Waiting."

Twilight shudders. "It sounds incredibly disquieting."

"That's all that I know."

"Well, that is plenty of information. Spike, please send the letter to Princess Celestia."

Spike breathes green, magic-like fire onto the paper after rolling it up into a scroll. Its ashes fly out the window.

"He just burned it!" I say worriedly.

"That's how we send letters."

"...That's a weird way to send letters."

Suddenly I remember that I stepped on some Poison Joke in the Everfree Forest. I go up to Twilight.

"What do I do if I step on Poison Joke?"

"Oh, no..." She uses magic to part my mane and look at my horn. Apparently it's in good condition, as she sighs in relief and lets my mane go back down. Then she asks me to sit still, so I do and she looks all over my body.

"I don't see anything wrong... What could have happened?"

Suddenly, there's a loud bang at the door. I jump and shriek.

The door gets busted down and Twilight gets shot with a sort of orange magical spell. She falls to the ground.

"TWILIGHT!" I scream. Spike flees to the upper level of the house, and I get surrounded by a familiar bright yellow magic. I'm being abducted once again...

I try to run. I try to scream, to break free, to do anything, but it's useless. I'm going to go back to the fortress.


	3. Chapter 3: I don't think I'm better

After being abducted once again, I fall unconscious.

Eventually, I awaken. I'm in my room on the floor near my bed. I'm entangled in the covers, which are still attached to the bed, so I can make the assumption that I've fallen out of bed. The next thing I notice is the fact that there are two stallions standing near me, watching me intently.

One is bright blue like ice, and one is deep navy like the sea.

"Well, are you going to say anything?" asked the bright blue one. He slicks back his navy mane, which is long and spiky with a teal streak in it.

"I think she's going to go out again," replied the navy Pegasus with a large body structure and a scar over his left eye.

"I'll check," rasped a familiar voice. Soon, I found myself staring into a pair of brown, soul-piercing eyes. I scream and roll out of the covers, then stagger around a bit, coming to rest against the wall. I look back at them, and see a third one. An Earth pony, only slightly bigger than me, was standing at my bedside. He wore a mask over his eyes that warped and distorted them to form a terrifying image.

The Pegasus started towards me slowly. "Guess not," he says as he helps me regain my balance.

"Thanks, Palliroia," I say to him.

"It's nothing," he replies.

I look out the window and see the sun setting. "How long was I out?"

"Too long," said the light blue Earth Pony.

"We thought you might be dead," said the other one. He didn't look concerned in the slightest, however. He just had a straight face.

Palliroia lets go of me. I stumble slightly, but recover my stability after that. I look around the room.

"Is Rafala here?" I ask.

"No," says Palliroia. "We locked her out. She wanted to cut you open since you weren't conscious."

I shudder at the thought, but sigh in relief all the same. Then I look at the door and see that it hasn't just been locked, but also boarded and chained.

I can't think of anything to say.

Then Palliroia decides to look at my eyes. "Oh no," he says. "We've got to get you out of this fortress fast."

"I know… my eyes are corrupted."

"And who knows what might happen if you become fully corrupted…"

"I shudder to think. We need to get out of here."

Palliroia turns to the Earth ponies, who are lying on my bed in boredom.

"Gevrys. Dirge."

The two of them lift their heads up, and the light blue one says, "What do you want?"

"Gevrys, do you even know what we've been talking about for the past minute or so? We're breaking out of here, and going back to Equestria. You and Dirge are coming with us."

"Nah, we're fine right here."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm completely sure. Rexy's my god and savior, and he's merciful and generous and all that stuff."

I frown at him, not able to believe how close-minded he is.

"I don't need Celestia and Luna, I've got him."

Now I become genuinely angry at him.

Palliroia now has an aggravated look on his face. "Gevrys, you will come. You MUST come. If you don't terrible things will happen to you."

"Yeah, says who? I don't see anything wrong with myself." He gets off the bed, then his left front leg's knee buckles and he falls to the ground, starting to grunt and moan in pain. "Well, damn."

Palliroia, with a smug smile on his face, says, "You were saying…?"

Gevrys frowns at Palliroia. "No. I'm not gonna join your stealth mission. So don't… even… TRY… to get me to," he says as he limps over to the door.

I watch him begin to dismantle the things that are keeping the door shut. He kind of just drags his hooves down on them and pushes them off. Then Dirge gets off the bed and charges at the door. Using his hard, stone mask, he smashes off all the blockages and even damages the door a little. He stumbles around and then he and Gevrys walk out of the room, with Dirge rubbing his head.

I turn back to look at Palliroia. "What about Rafala and… her?" I ask.

Palliroia thinks for a moment, putting his hoof on his chin and staring at the sundown out the window.

"I doubt Rafala will come with us…"

"Me too. Even if she wants to come, I don't want to have her with us."

"Amen to that."

As Gevrys and Dirge left the door wide open, we didn't have to open it as we walked over to the dark purple door slowly. The door looks as though it hasn't been opened in a very, very long time, but this can't be true. The room's owner was at the ritual the other day.

When we reach the door, I knock on it harshly, and then a desperate-looking unicorn opens the door.

She has a very dark purple coat, which contrasts fantastically with her brilliantly bright white, flowing mane. Her tail is just as long. Her eyes, which are bright yellow like the color of dawn, are sunken, and her cutie mark, which I can't discern, is covered up by a bright yellow material.

"Kurokagi, you have to come with us," I say to her.

She shudders and coughs. "Where are we going?"

Palliroia thrusts out his chest and says, "We're getting out of here."

Kurokagi coughs again. "I can't… I've become so heavily besmirched that I can barely live outside of this place. I'm sorry…" she rasps. "Ignis… will you be alright?"

I think back to the past month, where Kurokagi has been the only pony I could depend on. She's the one who strengthened the will for me to go on, she's the one who taught me so many spells I know I will use frequently in life. She's served as my closest friend throughout this torturous experience, and she's started to be like a second mother to me.

Suddenly I'm torn between two decisions. It seems like there's no way out for Kurokagi. If she stays here, then she'll only get tainted more and more by Rex Aurora's power. And if she leaves, she'll likely die. I can't stand the thought of this and I break down sobbing about it without warning. I can't even think of anything to say about the current situation, so I just let my tears do all the talking for me.

Kurokagi pulls me up off the ground and performs a spell on me. Her violet, swirling magic feels warm and soothing, and it feels like all of my sorrows and pain are melting away into the vortex.

Kurokagi then sets me back down. "I've put a spell on you that will hide your life energy from Rex Aurora, so you can escape now. It won't last forever, though. Do you know of any other unicorns who can renew the power when it starts to…" She coughs again. "…weaken?"

I think about Twilight Sparkle. "Yes."

Palliroia has been silent throughout all of this, and then bursts out impatiently, "Aren't you going to do the spell on me too?"

Kurokagi nods and performs the same spell on the Pegasus. After setting him back on the floor, she looks out the window.

"Night has fallen. Now is the time."

Palliroia nods. "Got it." He starts walking away with his head up.

I start to walk away, then look back at Kurokagi. She sighs. "Ignis…"

"Is this goodbye?"

"Yes, this is. I'm sorry."

"Thank you for giving me the strength to go on."

"You're welcome, Ignis. I know Palliroia will take care of you."

I throw my forelegs around her, and she accepts the hug.

After that, I walk towards Palliroia slowly, hoping that someday I will see Kurokagi again…


	4. Chapter 4: But I'm not worse either

With Palliroia, the big strong Pegasus at my side, I walk down a hallway in the fortress sadly. I look at the statues depicting the history of Rex Aurora's life. According to the statues and the informative plaques below them, Rex Aurora is the cousin of Celestia and Luna. Inspecting them closely, I learn much of his past.

Apparently he was born at nearly the same time as Celestia, and the two of them are very much equal in strength. The plaques describe Rex Aurora as an intellectual being, using his immense logic combined with equally large power to do things beyond one's imagination. It seems he was the one who governed Equestria during the short period of time from the moon's setting to the sun's rising, the Dawn. Eventually, though, he grew tired of having so little control and decided to establish his kingdom, Inversus, in which he has total control over all.

He uses an unseen magical barrier to separate Inversus from Equestria, where time flows like I'm used to it flowing. Suddenly it dawns on me as to why it became daylight in the Everfree Forest so quickly. It's because I passed that barrier and went from night to day instantaneously. It's starting to make much more sense now.

Then the inscriptions tell of how he wishes to end the conflict between Celestia and Luna…

At this point, I stop walking alongside Palliroia and pay much more attention to the commemorations. They display quotes from Rex Aurora.

"If Celestia and Luna are not acting as sisters, and are still in hot water because of Luna's imprisonment in the moon, then I've no choice but to end this struggle. But this will be done by force."

Suddenly I realize so many things, and yet have so many more questions. He's been misinformed, and he's using me and the others for evil things. But why us, of all ponies? And why does he use us instead of anypony else? It dawns on me that Rex Aurora needs to be stopped, or else the entire vast kingdom of Equestria may fall victim to Dawn's vengeance. And that will not be good. That will not be good at all.

"Palliroia, come look at this!" I call. He turns around and looks at me.

"What is it?" then he rushes up to the plaque and reads the story.

His eyes slowly widen in shock as he reads the plaque, and when he finishes he says, "Okay. This issue needs to be addressed. As soon as we get to Equestria, we need to make it known that-"

Then the door way back at the other end of the hall begins to open. It seems Rex Aurora is leaving his throne room, for some reason. Palliroia jumps up to his feet and gallops over to the end of the hallway hastily, running up the stairs to the left that I didn't go up last night and hiding somewhere in the kitchen. I follow him.

I bank left up the stairs, slipping a little, only to be pulled up and behind a counter by him. He gives me a 'listen' sign language. My left ear perks up and I hear a door opening, somewhat far away from us. Then I hear Rex Aurora's voice for the first time in a while.

"Kurokagi, are you in here?"

Kurokagi replies tiredly, "Yes. I am…" she yawns.

"Just checking. It feels like something's missing."

I can't hear Kurokagi's reaction, if she had one. But I realize that her spell is weakening, and he knows that the two of us aren't here. Palliroia says silently, "We need to find a way out of here, now. RIGHT now."

It's obvious I can't go the way I went last night. Rex Aurora is in that hallway. So I jump over the counter and start running around, looking for an exit. Palliroia follows suit. Eventually, he rests up against a wall. It's just a bare wall, with nothing of interest on it, until he slumps onto it. Then it reveals itself to be a secret door, rotating around and making Palliroia loses his balance. It looks like he just barely kept himself from shouting.

I enter the secret door, and he closes it behind us. It's dark.

I use some magic to ignite a small flame at the tip at my horn, providing light. Looking around, this seems to be a prison of sorts…

Trotting down the hall, there are jail cells on the both sides of me, and yet there is no sign of life anywhere. The only conspicuous thing is that one door is wide open.

Palliroia walks into the door and starts squinting at the wall.

He whispers, "There's some writing on the wall… it's hard to make out, though."

"Here." I hold the light up to the writing.

We see the terrifying, heart-rending story of a convict here.

-Day 1. My name is Spark Spread, and today I was abducted from my sister and thrown into this jail. Rex Aurora is trying to use me for something… I can just sense it…-

-Day 59. He's started using me as a sort of lab rat for his magical spells. I can't stand it… my body hurts... too weak to write…-

-Day 110. He hasn't given me food for a week… I'm dying of hunger…-

-Day 174. Close to losing it… must escape…-

-Day 202. Found out that bricks put under pressure are susceptible to extreme heat… Escaping…-

Palliroia looks at me. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

I nod my head and shoot a fireball at the bricks nearest the floor, and sure enough, the whole wall comes crumbling to the ground. Palliroia and I jump out of the way.

Then we jump down. I have a hard landing, and my knees buckle slightly. Then I see more writing on the wall that seems to have been written in blood.

-Day 202. I'm out… got hit by one of his spells… I'm dying… if you see this message… escape while you sti

The message ended there. But I knew what he meant to say. "Escape while you still can."

Kurokagi was smart to hide our life energy.

Palliroia floats down with his wings spread. I look at him.

"Now we run. You see that forest in the distance?"

"Yeah."

"Go there. Watch out for Poison Joke though!" I start off, running just like I did last time. In other words, fast.

Palliroia follows up by flying over my head. I can't help but marvel at how majestic he looks when he's flying. I pick up the pace, staring at him, but avoiding any Poison Joke I see all the same. Soon, though, we reach the Everfree Forest, and I lose sight of him.

I'm greeted by the light, or at least its beams, once again. They're just as pleasant as I remember, but I try not to daydream too much.

Needless to say, it's a long, repetitive run through the lush wood. When I reach the clearing once again, I slow down significantly to catch my breath. My heart is thumping, and I'm panting and sweating like a dog. The sunlight helps to make me feel a bit better, but when I look up into the sky, I don't see Palliroia anywhere.

I look everywhere in the sky, and his familiar blue wings with lighter blue feathers are nowhere to be found. I start to worry about his well-being. Then I notice myself feeling a bit colder and sadder about Kurokagi, and I realize that this must be because her spell is starting to run out of power.

I walk up to the stream ahead of me and look at my reflection. My eyes are no longer corrupted, they look normal. I can see some strange, bright yellow material in my mane and tail, though. That must mean something…

Oh well. Everypony in Ponyville will just think it's mane dye, probably. I don't have to worry about anything as I trot into town tranquilly. Sure enough, I'm not seen as terrifying anymore. It feels good to be accepted.

But I need to focus on the task at hand and find Twilight so she can renew the spell until we find a way to get Rex Aurora out of power. I eventually happen upon her residence again, but it takes a while because, quite frankly, Ponyville is very hard to navigate.

I rap on the door. Twilight arrives at the door with a cast on her right foreleg. She recognizes me.

"Oh, you're back! That's great, Ignis!"

"Yeah, thanks. Twilight, do you know any spells that can hide somepony's life force from somepony else?"

She thinks to herself about this. While doing this, she opens the door and lets me inside. "I don't think so. Why?"

My eyes suddenly widen in fear. "You… don't know?"

"No." She looks at me, puzzled. "What's the matter?"

"This is bad," I say. "If you don't know how to cover it up, then my captor will be able to find me eventually."

"Oh." Twilight looks worried now.

"Please tell me you know about a book or something that has that spell in it! You gotta!" I'm clinging to her mane desperately at this point.

"I'll see what I can find. But for now you should see if the Mayor will be willing to help you until I do."

"Where is the Mayor?"

"She's usually in the big building in town square. Check there."

"Okay!" I nod vigorously and run out of the building as Twilight starts searching the shelves for a book. I dart around the town, looking for town square.

In due time, I find the city hall and approach it. But soon I'm stopped by two Pegasus guards, clad in armor, who are as big as Palliroia.

"Little filly. State your business with the Mayor," barked the one on the left.

I suddenly realize that I have a tremendously long and scarcely believable story to tell to them. So I take a deep breath…

"A couple months ago I was ponynapped by an almighty Alicorn and he took me to his place and another unicorn there put a spell on me to hide my life energy from him so he couldn't find me so I could escape. Now I'm here and the spell is getting weaker so I went to Twilight Sparkle and asked her to help me recharge the spell but she doesn't know how so now she's trying to find out how and she told me to come to the mayor for help."

The guards remain silent throughout all of this. Then the one on the right blinks and says, "Don't feed us your lies, young one."

"But it's TRUE!"

"Do you have any way to prove that it's true?"

It dawns on me that I don't have any evidence that it's true, so I sit down on the spot and start thinking about how I can possibly prove it's true.

"Speak now or we will have to drive you away!" barked the one on the left.

I sit up when I hear a voice coming from inside the building.

"What is all the commotion?" asked a strong voice.

The guards move to their sides to make way for the Mayor, who comes out, looks around, sees me, and walks up to me.

"Who's this little filly?" she asks.

She dips her head down and looks at me from above her golden spectacles.

"We do not know her name, Mayor. She claims to have come from Inversus and is being pursued by an Alicorn named Rex Aurora. Apparently Twilight Sparkle is looking for a way to keep this from happening, ma'am," said a guard.

"…Come inside," said the Mayor, much to the guards' surprise.

So I walk inside, and aside from the fortress, I have never been in such an important-looking building. Framed paintings and ornate furniture, among many other things, are everywhere.

"Tell me everything that happened."

So I tell her everything that has happened to me ever since I got captured to what is happening now.

The Mayor merely listens, taking it all in.

"I can understand the hardships you've been through. I'm always willing to help a pony in need."

I look at her, wide-eyed and full of joy. It seems like things are going to go as I wanted them to all along.

Finally. After two long, arduous months of imprisonment, I'm close to being back home!


	5. Chapter 5: However I've often been told

(Kurokagi POV)

Ignis and Palliroia are out now. Gone. They're out alone, and as far as I know, they only have each other.

It's painful to see them go. Almost like they're my daughter and son, and they've just left to see the real world.

I've cast a spell on them to hide their life energy, and hopefully they'll be able to find somepony who can renew it when it weakens. I know I can't.

I look at my flank. My old cutie mark, a beautiful, swirling cloud of bright white magic, has been covered up by a bright yellow material. The essence of Rex Aurora's power corrupting me is becoming more and more clear. It's all over me, and this could potentially kill me for all I know. I feel like there's nothing I can do about this. It's like no matter what, I will die.

I think about this, looking out the window at the sunrise. I sigh sadly, seeing my reflection in the mirror. My mane is almost entirely bright yellow now. If I let this spread any further...

I shudder to think...

I go on for hours, just sitting here, gazing out the window, watching as the sun slowly rises. I ponder my near-inevitable death. Then I see the clock. 9:42. I'm late for the ritual.

I use magic to teleport out the door without even having to open it. I can hear a faint noise. It sounds like hoofsteps.

I get closer to the door, and start hearing unusually excited chanting and stomping.

I arrive at the door and open it with my magic. It takes some effort, but it's mostly a breeze.

I see two earth ponies and a pegasus doing all sorts of dances, shouting and whooping in the air as Rex Aurora corrupts them even further, gaining power by doing so. His horn glows strongly with pale yellow light, and I can see spots of the same colors on the ponies' bodies growing in size slightly, yet noticeably. Their eyes even look tinted in this color, to an extent. Nobody even pays me any mind.

Things get out of hand, and the three of them begin cheering even louder and becoming more frantic with their movements. Eventually, though, Rex Aurora finishes absorbing power and adds it to his own, ending the ritual.

"You have done your part, my subjects," booms Rex Aurora, who looks content.

Gevrys, the light blue earth pony, falls onto the ground. I can easily see his normally blue eyes looking greenish, as if the blue is trying to combat off the yellow, but failing. Spots of yellow also stain his knees, back, and most of his mane and tail.

"O, almighty Rex Aurora..." He falls onto the ground belly-up, disoriented. I become scared. This is not good.

Then my attention turns to the green pegasus, Rafala, who is hovering next to Rex Aurora's head, fluttering her purple wings at incredible speed and grinning maniacally at him. Her bright green coat looks even brighter than usual, and her eyes are completely yellow. Even the parts that are normally white. Her mane also has yellow streaks in it. She floats around the room, humming to herself, eventually stopping in front of Rex Aurora to bow down to him before losing consciousness and falling onto the ground completely.

Dirge, over near the corner of the room farthest from me, is stumbling around with his hands over his mask's eyes, writhing in agony. His tail and what little I can see of his mane are completely corrupt, and I can see spots of the color all over his coat. He starts howling in pain before falling over and going silent. I look into the mask's eyes and see nothing. They're blank, so his eyes must be closed behind the mask.

Rex Aurora stands up and looks directly at me. I can tell that I look mortified at what I've just seen.

He stands there for a short amount of time. His face is blank and emotionless. He isn't showing deceptive kindness, disappointment or anger at me for being late, or even aggression. He promptly shoots me with a spell, and suddenly pain shoots through my veins. It feels like my blood has turned to tiny shards of glass, and I start screaming in agony and watching as my legs, mane, and hooves start turning yellow. Then I black out.

When I wake up, the other ponies are coming to as well, stumbling around and eventually getting back on their hooves. I walk up to Gevrys and start talking to him.

"Gevrys, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine. Nothing's wrong with me whatsoever. And even if it was, it would be fine knowing that I'm helping Rexy."

"Helping him do EVIL things!"

"As IF! He's all that's great in this world, and he's going to help Celestia and Luna get over their conflict! He's doing this for good!"

I groan. "No, he is NOT. All he wants to do is take over Equestria. Do you really want that?"

"You can't fool me with your lies. Don't think I'm gullible, you freaking idiot."

Gevrys' stubbornness and cockiness makes me mad and I walk over to Rafala.

"Rafala... We need to get out of here."

Rafala looks at me with a confused look on her face.

"...Why?"

"Because Rex Aurora's magic is taking over you! You're getting hurt!"

"It doesn't matter. I love pain. And besides, I'm helping him by doing this. It's a win-win situation."

I realize that she can't be convinced. So I walk up to Dirge and open my mouth to speak to him, but he speaks first.

"What is it?" He asks. He sounds very harsh.

"We need to escape. Rex Aurora's magic is doing things to you."

Dirge stares into me with his soul-piercing eyes.

"...if we don't leave, you'll get hurt!"

I shouldn't have said that. Dirge gets into a pose as if he's ready to pounce on me and starts walking towards me angrily. I back away slowly.

"Are you trying to instigate a fight?!" He growls.

"N-no, I'm-" I jump out of the way right before Dirge leaps forward to attack. He hits a wall and falls onto his back, squirming uncomfortably. I run out of the room.

After seeing what's happened to the three of them, I become very happy that Ignis and Palliroia were sent out of the fortress. I don't want anything else to happen to them, after all they've been through.

On my way back to my room, I see Rex Aurora hauling somepony into his throne room. I don't exactly get a clear shot of him or her, but they do seem to have a large body structure. Could they be a new recruit?

Either way, I return to my room to sleep, which is something I need after all the pondering I did last night. However, I find myself waking up immediately after I hear somepony shouting, as if they're in pain. The screams sound oddly familiar, and I realize that they're Palliroia's yells. I get up and gallop toward the throne room at high speeds.

When I get there, Palliroia has stopped yelling and is instead stumbling around, dazed. He appears to be corrupt, and he's also bleeding heavily. He falls to the ground. I run up to him and perform a spell on him, but he puts his wing in my face.

"No. I don't need any help." He says this in a manner quite unlike himself, almost like Rex Aurora has completely taken over him.

It seems like that's exactly what has happened. I can see his cutie mark, a raindrop over a grey storm cloud, being covered up by a surreal yellow blob. Just like my cutie mark.

"Palliroia! Snap out of it!"

He simply walks away from me.

"Snap out of what?"

"What happened to Ignis?"

"She... She died."

"She- WHAT?!"

I know he can't be serious. I can sense it in him, he's lying. I walk up in front of him and shake his head angrily.

"Get it together, Palliroia! What's gotten into you?!"

"Nothing..." He wrenches his head away from me. I become so mad that I leap at him. He jumps out of the way, picks me up and throws me into the wall nearest him.

I look at my legs, which are bruised and bleeding in some areas. I give up and lay there for a while, blacked out, unable to believe what just happened. He'd been changed so quickly...

When I wake up, Gevrys, Rafala, Palliroia, and Dirge are all gathered around Rex Aurora again, but their eyes are on me as I get up.

"FINALLY!" Remarks Gevrys. I go over and stand next to him.

Rex Aurora clears his throat, and says, with his eyes closed and a smug smile on his face,

"My faithful friends, we are almost ready to launch our attack on Equestria!"

I'm taken aback by this. OUR attack on Equestria?

"However, we are missing Ignis. You five must do whatever you can to track her down. I can tell that she is somewhere in Equestria, but her life force is hard to trace."

I practically have a heart attack, realizing that the spell protecting her is getting weaker by the second. Whichever unicorn she trusted with her safety is failing to find a spell.

"So, my friends, you must go to Equestria and search for her. Never rest until you find her, then bring her back to me."

He turns to me.

"Kurokagi, I can sense that you know where she is. Tell us."

I use all my magic powers to freeze time momentarily and run out of the room, down the hall, and through the fortress. After 3 years and several escape attempts here, I know its layout inside and out. Eventually I come to the great door and escape the fortress right as time goes back to normal. It exhausts me, and I take a breather. Afterwards, I hear Rex Aurora bellowing through the windows.

"WHERE HAS KUROKAGI GONE?!" He roars furiously.

"She must know where Ignis is! GET HER!"

Suddenly, the four others get teleported right outside the door behind me.

I look behind myself briefly and see Palliroia and Rafala kicking off into the air, while Gevrys charges at me and Dirge... Flees?

I can't help but think how odd it is for Dirge to be fleeing. He never runs from a fight. But I don't have a lot of time to think about this. I just run as fast as I possibly can.

I'm galloping towards the forest on the horizon, minding both the Poison Joke and Gevrys, who is right on my tail now. Eventually, I reach the forest. Looking behind me, I see no sign of Gevrys, so I just keep running and jumping over any tree roots and Poison Joke I see. Eventually I see daylight in a clearing at the end of a tunnel, but the clearing is completely covered with ice. Then I realize that the barrier of ice is forming a circle around me, and I wonder what in the world could possibly be going on. Then I see Gevrys, who has let his normally slicked-back mane fall forward, revealing a horn. Gevrys is a unicorn. And he's using a sort of ice magic to trap me.

I start to blast the ice with all I have, but it does barely anything. I can hear Gevrys laughing and congratulating himself smugly on capturing me. But I'm not getting captured that easily.

I charge at the ice head-on with my horn emitting heat, melting the ice and breaking down the barrier. Gevrys pursues by laying down a path of ice for himself to ride towards me.

Ponyville comes into view, and I try to detect where Ignis is.

I blindly run into Ponyville, and Gevrys follows. Then, chaos. I suddenly bank right at the right time and Gevrys runs into a tree, freezing the tree, slipping on the ice, and falling face-first onto the ground. He seems to be incapacitated, so I continue trying to find her. Eventually, I come to an alley, which seems to be a good potential hiding place, I look into the left alley and it's completely dark. Then to the right, which is also dark, but then I do a double-take. I could have sworn I saw something in the left alley, and I see two big, brown eyes staring into mine. In my desperation for finding Ignis, I foolishly think they're her eyes, and approach them.

Dirge then leaps out of the alley quickly, his mouth wide open. His teeth look strangely sharp. I turn around and start running, but he gets me on the hind leg and bites down hard.

I start screeching loudly and kicking my leg everywhere, trying to get him off. But he won't get off. Instead, he climbs onto my back and tries to bite my neck, but I duck my head down and buck him off onto the ground. Soon, he gets back up and gallops toward me at absurdly fast speeds.

I look back at him, and his entire face is covered in my blood. He's licking it off while chasing me, and he's gaining on me. I look back ahead and see a horrified pink mare with a green, curly mane. I get out of the way, but then Dirge accidentally hits her and bites her neck.

I gasp as she falls onto the ground, but it seems Dirge didn't apply a lot of pressure to the bite, as she is still breathing. He simply shakes his head and goes after me again. It's at this point where everypony in town locks themselves in their houses.

Eventually, two armored unicorns arrive on the scene and start pummeling Dirge with an endless barrage of magical spells. Dirge seems to be hurt, as I hear him grunting. However, soon I look back and see a magical spell headed for me. I duck, then Rafala comes by and starts stripping off one of the unicorn's armor with a demented look on her face. After that, Palliroia comes by and kicks him in the face with both of his hind legs, leaving him unconscious on the ground, bleeding. I simply watch. Rafala takes one of the pieces of armor and flings it into the other unicorn's hoof. He grunts and tries to remove it, but Rafala clicks her neck, pounces on him, and starts punching him into oblivion while laughing crazily. Then Palliroia swoops toward me. I duck down.

Then I realize that I had forgotten about Dirge. He bites me where he bit me before, sinking his unnaturally sharp teeth into my leg. I howl in pain, and this time Dirge takes me down. He pulls on the leg and trips me, then rolls me over and lets Palliroia swoop back down, pick me up, and start taking me back to the fortress.

So, as much as I hate to do it, I shoot Palliroia's face with a bolt of magic, and he falls out of the sky. When he lands, he is unconscious, and I land on my bad leg. I continue running away, and eventually I lose Rafala and Dirge. Then I see the city hall, and I can sense Ignis in there. I run up to the door, and the two pegasus guards there block the way with their wings.

"Intruders will NOT be allowed!" They say fiercely.

"I need to see Ignis!" I plead.

"It is our duty to guard that individual with our lives. We can not allow you to."

"No! I NEED to! You don't understa-"

"WAS I NOT CLEAR?!"

Suddenly, I hear a crash, and the roof of the city hall caves in slightly as Rafala comes out holding Ignis in her arms.

"I GOT HER!" She yells.

"LET ME GO! KUROKAGI! HELP!" Yells Ignis.

I'm about to help her, when suddenly Rex Aurora appears, surrounding Ignis, Rafala, Gevrys, Dirge, Palliroia and I in his magic and lifting us up to his head. Then he speaks in the Royal Voice.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" He booms.

"I CHALLENGE THEE AND THY ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"


	6. Chapter 6: That I am

(Ignis POV)

I was wondering what all the ruckus going on outside was. I heard Kurokagi screaming, Rafala laughing, and magical spells flying everywhere, some even hitting the building I was in at the time. Now, though, I'm in a ball of yellow magic for what feels like the millionth time, completely defenseless.

Rex Aurora opens his mouth, smiling, closing his eyes, with a hoof against his chest.

He booms, "PRINCESS CELESTIA! I CHALLENGE THEE AND THY ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"

I remember how I was taught of the elements of harmony in school, and how they're incredibly powerful and are embodied by 6 ponies.

For staying true to your friends, Rainbow Dash.

For keeping your promises, Applejack.

For care and consideration, Fluttershy.

For selflessness and adequacy, Rarity.

For happiness and enjoyment, Pinkie Pie.

And for powerful magic, Twilight Sparkle.

Oh hey, I've met one of the elements!

But there's no time for that now. It sounds as though the elements of harmony are in danger.

The sun sets, and the sky becomes the same color as the magic I'm trapped in. Rex Aurora's horn has a swirling vortex of magic around it, and I start to feel like I'm receiving overwhelming energy, as if I'm a machine that just got new batteries. I notice the magic going into every part of my body, and I become almost completely yellow. I'm corrupted now.

I see this happening to my five inmates, I should probably say, as well. Since we can't move, I can't tell whether they're enjoying it or not.

Now, however, Rex Aurora puts on the most awe-inspiring magic show I think I've ever seen. His horn shoots out a strange, six-point star-shaped mass that splits into said six points and twirls around until smashing into thin air, creating 6 large, round, glowing platforms. The platforms circle us as we rise into the air, and I see an alicorn that I used to see fairly often flying from the mountain city of Canterlot.

It's Princess Celestia.

Her regal, full-spectrum mane billows behind her as she flies down to us at incredible speeds. She looks quite angry, and she soon breaks out into the royal voice.

"Rex Aurora, King of Dawn," she says. "What art thou doing in Equestria again?"

Rex Aurora replies smugly. "I have come to end the conflict between thee and thy sister, as thou cannot end it thyselves."

"Preposterous! Said conflict endeth two years ago-"

"SILENCE, CELESTIA!" Rex Aurora sounds very impatient.

"I can see through thy lies. You need not even try denieth this fact. This ends now."

Rex Aurora now places me and the others on the platforms. I'm nearest Kurokagi.

"If thou elements of harmony can best my underlings, then I shalt leave. Let us decide who wilt control Equestria for the rest of eternity."

Princess Celestia thinks it over.

"...So be it."

Rex Aurora then uses his magical prowess to round up the six famed ponies who represent the elements of harmony. The sky darkens and turns into an ominous, swirling mix of red, gray and black. Black mist covers the ground, keeping me from seeing the enormous crowd of ponyfolk that have gathered and are in awe of the power at hand.

Then, a bright blue pegasus with a slick, rainbow-colored mane appears in front of me. She looks half-asleep.

Princess Celestia then speaks again. "My ponies, if thou do not win, Equestria is as good as gone! Fight for everlasting peace!"

The pegasus in front of me barely even looked alive. She stretched and yawned lazily, then shook her torso around as if trying to get water off of her coat. Then she started to realize what was going on.

"Fight for everlasting... Wait, what? Where am I? Who is that squirt?" She said, looking at me.

I reply, "I'm Ignis."

"That's a weird name. You're not from Clou-"

Then I hear a voice with a Southern drawl coming from my right side.

"Dash, y'all gotta FIGHT here!" Said an orange Earth Pony clad in a cowgirl hat, trying to buck Palliroia in the face.

I see Rex Aurora practically controlling Palliroia, who is beating the orange pony senseless.

Then pain shoots into the side of my head unlike any pain I've ever felt before. It feels like my brain is getting sucked out of my head, but at the same time compacted into one side. I scream, then inadvertently emit a huge wave of flame that engulfs Rainbow Dash, who ignites and shrieks, flailing around in an attempt to extinguish it. I gasp and look at Rex Aurora, who has a beam of magic going into my head. He's controlling me.

I use all my self control to break free and extinguish Rainbow Dash with a different spell, but she's still on the ground, barely moving. I check her heartbeat, which is still going. Then I start to lose my consciousness. I look to my left and see Rex Aurora controlling Kurokagi, who is pelting Twilight with magical spells relentlessly. I see Rafala punching a pink earth pony's face in, Gevrys bludgeoning a white unicorn with a gigantic ice flail, and Dirge doing unspeakably horrible things to a poor, yellow pegasus, who is bleeding very heavily and in tears. The sight of it makes me want to cry, too.

Then I see Rex Aurora looking at me. It takes all my strength to talk to him.

"You... You are a bad pony..."

He simply chuckles.

"All along, these ponies were all part of my select group of holders to counteract the elements of harmony. Kurokagi's magic is enough to rival Twilight Sparkle's magic. Gevrys' self-centeredness cancels out Rarity's generosity. Dirge's aggression counteracts Fluttershy's kindness, and Rafala's love of suffering counteracts Pinkie Pie's love of joy."

"Palliroia, though... He was a stubborn one. He didn't want to counteract Applejack, so I MADE him cheat and lie. I MADE him work."

"And you... You, my little filly... Were working with me perfectly from the very start."

I gasp. How is this possible?

"By trying to escape, defying and belittling me, you were being disloyal... Effectively beating out Rainbow Dash and her loyalty."

"NO! WHAT... Have... You..."

I'm about to lose it, about to get knocked out, but I stay awake long enough to see Rex Aurora absorb the power form the fallen element holders, sucking it into his horn and then releasing it in a powerful, red, flickering beam of magic aimed directly at Celestia.

Celestia falls from the sky, and Rex Aurora lifts her up with magic.

"Thou wilt suffer what thy sister suffered..."

I understand what's happening as Celestia gets sent to the moon.

I feel like I could howl, mourning her as if she was killed. But if there's any emotion running through me right now, it is pure and utter rage. Rex Aurora has just crossed the line. He's imprisoned me and 5 other innocent ponies, corrupted them and used them as tools so he could become ruler of Equestria, and now he's sent Celestia to the moon for who knows how long.

Before I can think about my anger any longer, I fall unconscious again. I fall unconscious for a very long time.

(1 month later)

When I wake, I find myself in what seems to be Inversus yet again, but this time, there are several ponies here. I recognize the holders of the elements of harmony and also my inmates.

All of them are watching me intently, almost desperately, and nearly all of them seem to be badly hurt. When I open my eyes, everypony seems to have been talking like crazy, stopping abruptly just to watch me wake up. Twilight Sparkle helps me up with some magenta magic that is a lot more soothing to my coat than the harshness of Rex Aurora's magic.

"Hi, Ignis," she says, coughing. "How are you feeling?"

I don't even bother to answer this question. I just start stuttering almost incomprehensibly.

"What- but... How? What just- when did... Where? Who?"

A feeble-looking yellow Pegasus with a long, pink mane walks up to me. She's scarred, limping, and her coat is caked with dry blood, but she puts me under her wing, speaking in a soft, gentle voice.

"Now, now... Speak a little clearer, little filly..."

I start to calm down.

"What... What just happened...?"

Twilight Sparkle answered me.

"Rex Aurora had no need for us anymore, so he sent us all here."

Now I am absolutely infuriated. After all he's put us through, after all that trouble and suffering, he just dumps us here when he's done? I become so mad that I cry. I pound on the ground and tear up the grass, releasing all my bottled-up anger in one big thrashing.

When I'm done, I'm breathing heavily. I decide that revenge on Rex Aurora is now my highest priority.

"I am going to mess him up!" I yell.

"So, uhhhmmm, are we leaving now or what? 'Cuz we've been sittin' here for freakin' ever and I really just wanna get moving right damn now," says Gevrys.

A white unicorn with a purple, curly mane scoffs. "Oh, my. You need to watch your tongue, darling! What dreadful manners you have..."

Gevrys walks up to her.

"Oh! Oh-hoh! You sayin' I don't have the right to say what I want? You sayin' you're the almighty god of me, and you can control everything I say and do? 'Cus you're not. UNH. You're not." He does an odd dance.

Twilight Sparkle turns her head away from them and her ears lower.

"Umm... I think we should take this slow so we'll be able to be a more... Organized team when we confront him."

I look at her and reply, "Probably."

So we pair up with our past nemeses and prepare to take on the worst Inversus has to offer.


	7. Chapter 7: Of the Frozen Peaks

**HEADS UP.**

Hopefully that got your attention. It's important to note that this chapter, along with the next five chapters, all take place at the same time. They will cover the backstory of all of Ignis' inmates, and be told from their point of view, and this one is about Gevrys.

Hope you enjoy what is so far the longest chapter of I Used to be Like You.

* * *

(Gevrys POV)

Yeah. So. Umm… Where do I even start? I guess I start with me.

I'm Gevrys and I'm 16 and all that stuff. Coat's a light bluish color, and my mane is a darker blue color. I slick it back all the time so I can hide my horn. See, my big sister Trixie, who is really, REALLY good at magic, would always belittle me because my horn is a little deformed. Being the little genius I was back then, I would always slick back my mane so that it would cover up the horn and I would hope that she would just forget about it over time. Of course, she didn't. But I just stuck with the mane style because it just looked cool.

The most important thing here is that I'm awesome, and anypony who knows me knows that just as well. I'm GREAT. I'm the freaking BEST.

Now that you know that, I also used to love Rex Aurora because he gave me power. And power's good. Especially when you're like me, and you're weak. Wait, I'm no- oh horseapples, how did I let that slip out?

Well, now I hate him because I've… rethought what's been happening for the past six months. After all, he DID take me away from my little brother, Icicle. I wonder how the little guy's holding up. I shouldn't have to care about Trixie, she can take care of herself just fine, but the thing is she's always traveling to places like Equestria to show off her magic and we never see her. I don't like her that much anyway. But Icicle… I'm kind of worrying about him.

AAAAAaaaanyway, would you believe me if I told you I wasn't born in Equestria? Yeah, it's true. I was born way, WAY far from there, all the way up north in a little tiny division called Malvarma. I always liked that place's name. It's fun to say.

Anyway, it IS all the way up north, so it's cold. And I mean really, REALLY cold. Ice everywhere. We learn some pretty sweet ice magic there, and it's really helping out for me. Lets me travel anywhere I want, basically. Pit in the way? BAM, ice magic makes an ice bridge. Get across the pit.

Now, I have parents, but they went missing shortly after my little brother was born, and now of course I have to do everything myself. We haven't heard from them since, but I just know they're alive. Deep down somewhere, I can just tell somehow.

Anyhow, one time I was just drifting around on an ice bridge, minding my own business, when somepony else came by trying to take up my space, and I need my space. It's my space. You don't take over my space. Seriously. So I pelted that dope with some magical spells, and yeah. He fell into a chasm. I didn't care. But then suddenly this bolt of magic came out of nowhere and melted a hole in the ice bridge I was making for myself. Since I was… somewhat good at making ice bridges back then, I completely slipped the hell up and went out of control, then crashed myself into a wall and when I woke up, I was in some weird kind of featureless dungeon room thing and Rex Aurora was standing in front of me. He said he could 'utilize me', and that he had given me power. Now I know that was a lie.

He didn't give me any power until later, when I was on top of this weird, immaterial platform, supposed to be duking it out with this little white unicorn mare with a purple mane. Then all of a sudden I got hit hard by the guy's magic, and I ended up beating her senseless, which sucks because it's complete beauty just gone to waste like that.

Well, yeah. I used to like that guy, but now I HATE him with a burning passion because after that he's just left me to rot in this bland, unremarkable stretch of land. He sucks so much.

Anyway, as for that white unicorn mare, I now have to work with her to get through this place.

Joy.

At first she just walks around me, eyeing me up and down, checking me out. In my head, my thought process is basically something like 'Say I'm hot, say I'm hot, please say I'm hot.' Then she walks in front of me with a somewhat disappointed look on her face while I'm all giddy.

"Dear, your mane looks terribly untidy. Allow me to touch it up a bit…"

I sigh a bit and let her fix my mane. Then for some reason she gasps.

"Oh, my! You're not from Equestria, are you?"

I cock my head. "…No, why'd you ask?"

"Your horn has a little shift in it toward the top," she says with excitement. "It's a sign that you're from up north, probably from Malvarma!"

"Well, that's 'cuz I am," I say blankly.

"Oh, you have that Malvarman accent and EVERYTHING!"

I don't see how my birthplace is something to fangirl over, but I go with it anyway.

"So, um, what's ya name?"

"It's Rarity. And yours?" she asks, her eyelids fluttering in admiration.

"Gevrys," I say. After a short pause, I quickly add, "And it's spelled G-E-V-R-Y-S. It means 'frost' in my ancestors' language."

"Oh, how fascinating!" she turns to face a lush forest I was in earlier, and she says, with confidence, "That's the Everfree Forest. It's right on the Equestrian border, so we should make our way there, dear."

(Rex Aurora POV)

I sense a disturbance.

My once loyal subjects are now making their way towards the new, FREE Equestria, as I have now sent Luna to the moon as well. They must want a share of my power.

They will not get it.

(Gevrys POV)

"So it's a…" Then a LEVIATHAN group of mountains just instantaneously grow right in front of the forest, blocking our view of it. They're surrounded by that yellow shade of magic that I know very well and LOATHE by now.

"Ugh, that GUY!"

"Who?"

"Rex Aurora, that big old intimidating Alicorn who went ahead and claimed Equestria for his own self. Now he's just goin' and blockin' our progress like that. Well that ain't gonna fly."

I start towards the mountains, gesturing for her to follow.

She starts trotting toward me at a rather casual pace, which is unsettling. It makes me feel like she only cares that much about basically saving herself from being trapped here forever.

"Y'know, if you don't hustle up, chances are you're gonna have to stay here forever. We gotta get Mr. King of Dawn out of power fast or else Equestria's as good as dead."

"H-he's doing THAT?!"

"Pretty much."

Rarity then becomes furious. She outright charges toward the mountains, wearing a disgruntled look on her reddened face. I go alongside her at full speed to keep up with her.

I try to think of things to ask her, things to win her over. I've never really done this before, now that I think about it. Since in Malvarma everypony is home-schooled, I barely know any mares. I've got to make myself look good. Just try not to be awkward.

"So…" I start off.

She replies, "Yes?" without looking at me, still going forward with all haste.

"…What do ya do for a living?"

"Well, I devise all the newest fashion designs at my shop, The Carousel Boutique."

"Uh-huh…"

We're still moving toward the looming, grey mountains. It almost looks as though they're getting bigger by the second. To make things a bit quicker, I shoot some ice on the ground in front of me and start sliding on it toward the mountain, which results in Rarity releasing a squeal in delight. I just look behind at her curiously. Again, I don't see what's so spectacular about this. I do it almost every day, it's nothing special. Of course, I guess it is exotic and stuff because it's magic that I guess isn't taught in Equestria.

I use my technique for ice bridging by firing magic in bursts ahead of myself. If you just unleash one consistent beam, it'll obstruct your view because of it having to go right in front of your eyes in order to reach your hooves.

Rarity follows me, jumping on the ice that I've already gone over, and starts sliding on it. I look behind myself briefly to check on her and see if she's handling things alright.

"Oh my, this is very nerve-wracking!" she calls.

"Yeah, it'll get your blood pumping! We're about to incline upward, so just try not to fall off!" I reply without looking at her. We're nearing the base of the tallest mountain, and I steadily start launching the frosty platform at a slight angle skyward. My adrenaline rises as I start going up for the first time in a while.

The thing about living in Malvarma is that, since it's mountainous, you're always at a very high elevation and as such you're usually inclining downward toward the ground. I would always take the lazy option and climb the mountains to get back up, and as such I never got a lot of practice going up. But now what little skill I have in it is being put to the ultimate test, because if I mess up bad enough Equestria might die out.

I try to make the slope as gradual as possible, occasionally checking back to see how Rarity is doing. She's having some difficulty, but I shouldn't help her. I might hurt myself.

After a few seconds I feel like kicking myself. Not helping her because I might hurt myself. Man, are you serious? I need to stop focusing on me; I need to put others, especially mares, before myself.

I jump a little, yet still fire ice in the same place, resulting in me moving down the bridge a bit and getting closer to Rarity. I hold out my hoof, she grabs it, and I pull her up, all while galloping up the ice and continuing to create the bridge for us.

Man, that was so dangerous.

She sighs in relief a little and thanks me with a smile.

"Don't let your guard down yet," I say. "We've still got a ways to go.

Then we reach the top of the mountain and I start to even the bridge out.

Then, though, the bridge suddenly breaks open. I try to reform it, but I end up tripping on the gap and destroying the bridge, resulting in Rarity and I falling onto the peak of the mountain, which came out of the ground already covered in snow.

-6 hours later-

Well, I woke up and now I'm in some kind of cell. A subterranean cell with a gate made of flimsy, rusting metal. I almost laugh at the thought that something like this could imprison a unicorn, and promptly blast it with some magic to freeze it. Then I jump towards it and buck the ice, and the door, to pieces. It seems I'm in a cavern in some sort of mine. Gems are everywhere. Yeah, they're pretty and stuff but they're just little shinies. My main concern right now is finding out where I am and where Rarity is.

I slowly walk down the tunnel, admiring the shinies in the walls. At least they're something to stare at.

After a few seconds, the floor stops at a ledge leading down to a huge clearing filled with curious figures with large, beefy front legs. They're scruffy, with cat-like eyes and sharp teeth, hauling around carts filled with the shinies, digging them out with their claws. Suddenly I wonder if I'm still in the same mountain or not. Oh, PLEASE tell me I am. I don't know if mountains can come out of the ground with caves or not, and now I'm really wishing I did.

Then I remember my main concern. I need to find out more about Rarity's whereabouts, but how can I go about doing that? Aside from forming ice, magic isn't exactly my forte. Maybe if I'd gotten to know Rarity a little bit better I would be able to make a prediction of where she is somehow.

There's a lot of cave I'm gonna have to explore, and I still have Rex Aurora to worry about. This whole situation is just so stressful. Why do I have to be one of the ponies responsible for saving Equestria? Why can't I still be the carefree, lazy Malvarman I was around six months ago?

I'm about to jump down there and take all the odd creatures on, but then I stop, think this over, and find that I don't know what to do anymore. I can't really sidle across any edges because there aren't any; I definitely can't go down there and make myself completely vulnerable, and although there's a hole near the top of the clearing's left wall, creating ice rails makes a good deal of noise which would draw me to their attention. The tunnel I just walked through has no doors or openings in it, except for the one to my cell, which has nothing in it. So I'm kind of out of options here.

My best option is to try and make an ice rail over to the other tunnel, so I leap out of the clearing and form it, quickly going over to the other clearing. The creatures look around, puzzled, and even talk to each other in a horrible, raspy voice.

"What was that?!"

I cringe at the sound of the hooves-on-a-chalkboard noise and cover my ears, grimacing. It just sounds so unpleasant and malevolent.

After just sitting there for a while, I shuffle backwards, uncover my ears, and walk down this dank, muddy corridor as well, and at the end I can see another one of the insubstantial metal doors, inside of which I can see a skeleton. Seeing it hits me like a powerful physical blow and I realize that Rarity truly is in danger here. I shudder at what sort of punishment she must be receiving.

I turn around, regretfully going back to the clearing. I am now completely out of options, and also completely scared. The silence of the area is very unsettling, and I feel as if I'm being watched to an extent that not even Inversus can top. The only light in the area is provided by torches that are mounted on the walls here and there, and even then it's a dim light.

I guess I could go down and confront the miners, but there are so many of them, and they're covered in armor. Strong armor. Their claws also look sharp; they could cut me up pretty badly with those.

They could also cut Rarity up pretty badly with those.

Now, there are really two different options I have here that are both equally crazy. I could try to take them on in battle, or I could try to sneak past them. I think the latter is the better plan, but the problem is finding a place to start. I would be pretty conspicuous if I just jumped down from here into the clearing, so I wait for the right opportunity.

After a minute or two, the creatures find some shinies and start digging them out of a wall, facing away from me and making a good deal of noise. I take this as a prime opportunity to leap down there and hide behind one of the many natural stone columns. My heart is already pounding loudly. I'm not used to this kind of thing.

Fortunately, I have enough common sense to know that I need to use my head, to observe every possible outcome of a situation, to be a strategic thinker. I also know that I should not engage the enemy in combat unless caught. That would just be plain stupid.

The dogs have stopped digging, and are probably now looking around for more gems. This place must have a good deal of gems in it. Makes sense, because this place IS huge. Eventually, though, they come across my column and start digging at its base, making me worry greatly. This isn't safe anymore, so I run quickly and quietly over to another pillar and hide behind it, then notice that I'm not far from a tunnel. Not a tunnel just sitting there in the middle of the wall, but an actual tunnel I can walk into from the ground. While the dogs are still digging away at the pillar, I dart away from the pillar and start to gallop down the tunnel quickly, and then the tunnel splits into two paths. I take the right path, because to me, taking the right path is good luck. It seems like taking the left path always leads to something bad happening.

However, the right path leads to nothing. It's a dead end. I walk back to the split and take the left path, and, just like I sort of predicted, it leads to an enormous shaft which I fall down.

But I manage to break my fall by pressing my hooves against the walls, slowing myself to a stop. That doesn't mean I do it with grace and style, though, because I don't. I'm panting and gasping and sweating up a storm, and it would be completely embarrassing had I done it in front of anypony else.

I proceed to do that classic thing where you climb up a tube by pressing against its side with your hooves and taking steps like that. The film industry has taught me well. It's not easy, though. Not at all. It's incredibly easy to slip up, and every single time I do I scream in fear of falling and frantically shove it back onto the wall.

It takes like forty-five minutes but eventually I reach the top of the shaft and find myself in another tunnel leading to sunlight which, after so long in a cave, is blinding. Then I realize that I still don't have Rarity. I start praying to Princess Vortex, the Princess of Malvarma, for Rarity's cell to be in this tunnel.

She must have been listening, as I find her in a cell to my right. I get all happy and giddy upon seeing her, even if she is asleep. I grab the lock with my mouth and rip it off, then tear the rest of the door down with my right hoof. Then I walk in there and shake her awake.

She wakes up, her eyelids fluttering, and sees me grinning at her happily.

"…Oh…?"

"Okay we gotta get out of here!" I say quickly.

"Here? Where are…" she looks around, then expresses distaste at the situation with an irritated face. "UGH! Those Diamond Dogs…"

"Those what now?"

"Diamond Dogs, the wretched animals that crave gems so much. They've tried to use me as a tool for that before."

"Well let's get out of here before they try to again, huh?"

So we walk out of the cell and then proceed to the exit, but then one of the Diamond Dogs I saw earlier leaps down from the ceiling and blocks our way out. Then another one appears back where the shaft is and covers it up, preventing escape. However, the Diamond Dog in front of me is GIGANTIC.

The large brown, armored mass of fur before me easily stands three times my height, and it has me trapped in this narrow, short corridor. I'm simply in awe of the enormous, imposing beast, but it seems to be more focused on Rarity than me. Probably because it wants her to find gems for it.

It grabs Rarity and takes her back up the shaft it came down from, but I promptly create an ice track and ride it up the shaft, jumping off the walls and sliding on ice to gain momentum until I'm traveling up the ridiculously large shaft at absurd speeds, catching up to it as Rarity calls for help.

The Dog reaches the top before I do, but when I do I loop around and knock it back down the shaft with the massive impetus I built up, resulting in all three of us falling down the pipe again.

The Dog at this point targets me, removing its armor and then throwing it at me as it falls down. I manage to grab the armor with magic and keep it in front of me to use as a shield to protect myself from more armor while simultaneously blasting frost at its unarmored parts. It's not easy, as I have to let my guard down to actually land hits on it, which is unspeakably dangerous, especially when you factor in the fact that we're falling down a giant sluice.

Eventually, we reach the bottom, and what little armor it had left smashed off its body, allowing me to swoop in and deliver the Hail Mary to it, using a frozen mass of all the armor I used to push it out of the exit and down the mountain.

Then I catch Rarity, who has been above me the whole time.

"My, that was exhilarating!"

"Yeah it was. That was probably one of the best things I have EVER done right there, my adrenaline is just through the roof. Now let's go before something like that happens again."

"Yes, let's…"

"You still got the ice riding thing down?"

"I believe so!"

"Well then, let's go!"

I create the ice rail for the two of us and ride it out the mountain. I forgot how warm sunlight was, and it feels great to finally feel it on my coat after spending so long in the caves. My adrenaline levels, unsurprisingly, are not lowered at all by the nerve-wracking ride down the mountainside. Rarity is enjoying it thoroughly, laughing and cheering as we dash down the colossal peak. It puts a smile on my face as we get closer to the Everfree Forest. Then I remember how serious the situation at hand is.

Surely enough, we then get to the Forest, riding right over it, and then reaching the center of the ruins of the small town.

We get off the ice rail.

Rex Aurora gets down from his throne.


	8. Chapter 8: Of the Misty Lake

(Palliroia POV)

My name is Palliroia.

In eastern Equestria, there is a lake. It's called Pelagius.

An enormous, misty lake that often goes unnoticed by travelers. It's enclosed within a canyon, and can only be reached by ascending an enormous, derelict city.

Even if the city, Dirutia, is in ruins, it is where I was born and grew up. Despite this, though, I spent most of my time in Pelagius.

It's a silent lake. Nopony lives there and nopony ever visits, because not many ponies know about it. I had the whole lake to myself. The whole, vast lake.

As a Pegasus, I would often simply fly around the lake, enjoying the feel of mist on my face as I flew near the surface of the water. Eventually, though, I spotted something in the water. Deep down below the liquid, I could see an entity that looked like a grand entrance to a building. It got stuck in the back of my head from then on.

I wondered how I could possibly get to it, being a pony. I didn't know anypony who could swim, and I myself didn't know how to swim either. So I decided one day to teach myself how to swim.

I remember how scared I was that day. I was only 9 then, and as I stood there before the enormous lake, I took a deep breath and dove down into the water. It felt like it was a death sentence, being down there in the water, alone, with nopony to help me if something were to go wrong.

I used my wings to propel myself through the water and pumped my legs back and forth, and before I knew it I was able to swim through the lake relatively quickly. It wasn't too hard. It was something that came naturally. So naturally, in fact, that I got my Cutie Mark, a gray cloud with a drop of water over it, by doing it.

When I turned 13, I decided I had built up enough confidence to finally go down toward the mysterious ruins. So I jumped into the water and sped through it, eventually reaching the ruins at the bottom of the deep lake.

As soon as I entered the ruins I was amazed at what I saw. I saw ancient statues depicting many figures, most commonly three Alicorns. Princess Celestia, Luna, and the one who I now know as Rex Aurora, the King of Dawn. I remember constantly doing research on this figure, but finding nothing. When I was 16, during a family trip to Canterlot, I went to the Royal Library to try and find something about Rex Aurora, because I really wanted to know more about him. It intrigued me greatly.

I found nothing on him, but I was determined. So determined, in fact, that I was looking for a book about him for twelve hours straight. Eventually a Royal Guard approached me and asked me what I was looking for. I remember that whole conversation I had with him.

"Sir, you've been here looking for something for twelve hours. Did you lose your engagement ring in here or something?"

"No, sir. I'm looking for something about Rex Aurora. The King of Dawn?"

Then he walked toward me, now wearing a somewhat angry expression on his face.

"How do you know about the King of Dawn? Only those affiliated with Celestia are supposed to know about him."

"I found some ruins depicting him, Celestia, and Luna in Pelagius."

"Have you told anypony about this yet?"

"Not yet, but-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence as he then blasted some white magic into my left eye. It really hurt, and I stumbled across the room, taking a few steps before falling down on the floor.

I woke up the next day in a tiny jail cell. It was made of brownish stone and had strong metal bars preventing me from escaping. There was no window, the only light was provided by a flickering yellow bulb. My wings were in cuffs, so I couldn't even stretch them out. After a while I saw a small slip of paper on the ground.

It said that I was imprisoned for the rest of my life because of my knowledge of Rex Aurora.

I just sat there, staring at the paper, unable to comprehend the fact that this is happening. I couldn't believe it. There was just no way it could have been true. All because of my curiosity, I'd found myself in jail forever.

I lied down on the makeshift stone bed, staring at the bare ceiling. This isn't happening, I thought. This just can't be happening. I thought of the parents, the brother and two sisters, and the girlfriend I had. I think about how I will never see them again.

Thyrosia, my little brother. I couldn't stand the thought of him being without me. He looks up to me so much, he always said that when he grew up he would be just like me.

My twin sisters, Thilypsia and Celosia, wouldn't be able to go on without me. They've always helped me whenever I need help, and I've helped them as well. Thilypsia is now the mayor of Dirutia, and Celosia is the gatekeeper. Without me, they wouldn't have gotten to where they are now.

The chain of events leading to my imprisonment happened so quickly. I couldn't believe it was happening. I thought it was just a nightmare I would wake up from, but no. All my fears were coming true.

I stayed in jail for a year and a few months. Then a miracle happened.

I was sleeping underneath the bed, as I had found it was slightly more comfortable than the bed itself. Heavy rain was falling outside, and I could hear the roar of thunder. The storm was right on top of the prison. Then, lightning struck the wall from the outside and it exploded. Thankfully I was under the bed, but I still felt like I had gone deaf.

I looked out the wall and saw the small town of Ponyville in the distance, but apparently the prison was built into the side of the mountain because when I looked down, I was some 1,000 feet above ground.

So what if I was way above ground? Then I realized that it was my chance! I was in there for over a year; sorrowful over never seeing my family again, but now I'll be able to see them, I thought. I just need to make a hasty escape, even if my wings aren't usable.

So I climbed down and hang on the edge of the floor, then I looked down and saw a tree growing on the side of the cliff near me. I let go and fell down to it, then grab it. The tree, however, is weak and broke under my weight, resulting in me falling down. I managed to land on a small protrusion of rock, and there I sat, looking for another place for me to land.

I see nothing. So I just prayed to Celestia that there's another protrusion directly underneath the one I'm on top of as I leap from it.

Unfortunately, there is not, and I fell down, flailing my legs around, but not yelling so as not to get spotted again.

Then I decided to try and grab onto the cliff as I fell down. It's an absolutely crazy idea but it resulted in me realizing that my hooves have adapted to being underwater.

After 7 years of swimming, apparently I became some sort of sea pony. Only then did I realize that my hooves now self-generate a sort of slimy, aquamarine material that acts as a very powerful adhesive. I managed to actually stick to the side of the cliff, feeling confident in myself.

I realize that I was born to be a pony of the sea. It all makes so much sense. My dark blue coat blends in with the water, and my aquamarine tail and mane are long and curly in a sort of wave-like manner. I get a sudden burst of confidence and start climbing down the cliff with my sticky hooves, eventually getting used to it during the blood-pumping descent down the side of the enormous mountain that Canterlot is built on top of. I experience so many emotions. Fear of falling or getting caught, confidence in my new abilities, happiness for finally escaping, and so many others.

I've almost reached the bottom of the cliff, the rain falling in the same direction as I'm going, but then, from somewhere below, I'm hit in the leg with a bolt of yellow magic. That leg goes limp and I start to lose my balance, then I get hit with another one and fall down seven or eight times my own height, landing on my back and going unconscious.

In a way, this granted my wish, as I then saw Rex Aurora, for real, in the coat about two days later. But he was not willing to tell me anything about him at all. And he just imprisoned me for yet another year and while he claimed to be offering hospitality, in reality I was only being used. At least he removed my wing cuffs.

That's the story of my life. As for right now, an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane and tail sits next to me, cleaning off a cowpony hat with her hooves.

I look at her.

"You ready to go take Rex Aurora down?"

She stomps down on the hat, making it fly up into the air and then land on her head.

"Oh man, that was impressive." It seriously was. I've tried to do things like that, but I never could.

"Well, thanks," she said with a southern drawl. I've always liked those accents. They make me think of southern food like apple pie, which I really like the taste of. Then she continues talking.

"I'm ready to take 'em on. After what's happened over the past month, he must really be fixin' to get a poundin'!"

I'm half paying attention to her choice of words and accent and half paying attention to what she's actually saying.

"Uh-huh. So am I. Being imprisoned for a year isn't fun. Especially if it happened right when I was about to escape jail."

"You're a prisoner?"

"Yes, but… it's complicated. One day, in Pelagius-"

"Pelawhat?"

"Pelagius. It's a lake I was born near. I was born in Dirutia."

"Never heard of either o' them. Sorry."

"Well it's fine. Dilutia's just a small, obscure, ruined town way off to the east of Equestria that nopony has ever heard of. And Pelagius is a lake near it."

"Alrighty then. Go on."

"Well, I was flying around Pelagius, but then I saw what looked like a temple entrance under the lake. So I trained myself to swim and got my cutie mark, then I went down there and saw a bunch of old statues."

She nods, as if beckoning me to go on.

"The statues portrayed Celestia, Luna, and, surprisingly, Rex Aurora, who ruled alongside the two of them a long time ago. I'd never seen or even heard of Rex Aurora before, so I decided to go to the Royal Library of Canterlot to find out more. But it turns out that you're not actually supposed to know about Rex Aurora. He was supposed to have been forgotten about, and only Celestia and her subjects can know, so I was put behind bars for life to prevent the information from leaking out."

"Must've been hard on ya."

"Oh yes. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my family behind. …Anyway, one day there was a big storm outside, and miraculously my wall got struck by lightning, so it crumbled and I could escape. That was when I found out that I'm a sea pony of sorts."

"A sea pony? Hoo boy, I thought they were just a myth! But I guess not, you're right in front of me, aren't ya?"

"Well, I wasn't always like this, I don't think. I must have adapted to swimming so much."

"That's mighty interesting."

"Indeed it is. Now we should get going."

"Where, though?"

"Well, I got to Equestria from here by going east of here. There's a big wall to climb there, and it then that inclines down toward that little town where… it happened."

"Alrighty then, we better head towards there."

So we gallop alongside each other toward the landform that we must climb, albeit somewhat slowly.

After a few minutes Applejack speaks.

"We should pick up the pace. Ya never know when he might get too powerful for us to handle."

"Okay," I say. Then I start to gallop at full speed, which is quite fast. It's probably the fastest I've ran in my life, and it's very, very tiring. And to think Dirge can run even faster than this.

Eventually, we reach the wall, and when I'm about to start climbing it, I hear a familiar hissing noise. It's the sound a Wall Shadow makes when it smells its prey.

Wall Shadows are terrifying creatures. They're aggressive things that can crawl on the walls and fire dangerous, black magic out of the large spines on their backs. The magic creates a pool of poison that swamps the surface it lands on, even if it means defying gravity. They resemble large, armored, black salamanders, only with sharp teeth and red eyes. I often saw them around the canyon that contains Pelagius, and they scare me to no end.

The Wall Shadow crawls around the corner of the landform and sees us. I can see its terrifying eyes, and it stares into me.

Applejack speaks first.

"What is THAT?!" she yells in fear.

"It's a Wall Shadow! It's DANGEROUS!" that's all I can get out before the Wall Shadow fires a burst of magic out of the second of its three spines. I shove Applejack out of the way and then leap back myself, backing away from the growing pool of toxins. Then I leap onto the wall and decide to take the Wall Shadow on, trying to find a way to attack it. I realize that there's not a lot I can do, as the monster's back is covered in armor-like stone that prevents me from doing anything to it. Attacking its head wouldn't be a good idea, as it can get an easy direct hit on me if I'm on there.

Then I think about how Rex Aurora was able to knock me off the Cliffside, by hitting my feet with projectiles and making me lose my balance.

Applejack is there on the ground, watching, dumbstruck.

I then call out to her, dodging another shot.

"APPLEJACK! IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN ATTACK ITS FEET WITH?"

She looks around and sees the piles of large rocks on the ground, then calls back to me.

"I GOT AN IDEA!"

I watch her pick up a rock with her head, then throw it into the air and spin around, then buck it with her hind legs and send it flying at one of the Wall Shadow's legs. Surely enough, its foot comes off of the wall, leaving a black footprint, and it starts to lose its balance.

Then another rock goes flying toward another one of its feet, and it falls off the wall.

Applejack leaps out of the way just in the nick of time, and the enormous lizard lands on its back, which exposes its soft-looking underbelly. Then I leap down from the wall and land on it, resulting in it grunting and waving its limbs around, trying to get back up. I climb off of it, looking for something I can effectively hurt it with, and I see an old, dying tree. I snap off a particularly sharp branch and then leap back onto the Wall Shadow and start stabbing it with the branch.

Applejack catches on and gets another branch from the same tree and starts stabbing it.

The Wall Shadow lifts its head up and tries to bite me. I manage to leap out of the way in time, then I buck it in the face, resulting in it getting stunned momentarily, allowing me to stab it one last time, fatally.

The monster goes limp, and I take a breath of relief. Then I turn to face Applejack, who is looking very confident in herself.

"Woooooooowee!" She exclaims.

"That was frightening. Wall Shadows have always scared me," I say.

"Well, now ya can proudly say ya've taken one down!"

We climb off of the beast.

"Now we have to climb this one somehow."

"I'm no sea pony like you. ...What's your name, by the way?"

"Palliroia."

"Palliroa… Parri… Palliyora…"

"Yeah, it's tough to say. It's a family tradition for me to have a name that ends with 'ia'."

"Interesting."

"Now, about climbing the wall. Maybe you could get on my back?"

"That'd probably work."

"I hope the adhesive on my feet is strong enough."

I get on the wall, and then Applejack leaps up on top of me, her forelegs on my shoulders, and her hind legs just dangling as far as I know.

I ascend the wall, but doing it with probably around two thirds of my weight to carry isn't exactly easy. Especially when you're going up.

It takes a while and I slip up slightly here and there, but after a bit we reach the top and I collapse on the ground, exhausted.

Applejack leaps off me, not tired at all.

"Thanks, partner!" she says kindly.

"No problem," I say, gasping for breath. I get to my hooves and stretch, feeling my back pop. It feels very good after what just happened.

"OOOOOOOOOOH, MAN!" I exclaim, going completely limp and laying there for a minute. Applejack just stares at me.

"Well let's go. Just down this hill."

"Alright!" the two of us dash down the hill, eventually arriving at Rex Aurora's throne, build out of the roof of the main hall of the little town.

Rex Aurora gets down from his throne.


	9. Chapter 9: Of the Stormy Skies

(Rafala POV)

Why am I not dead?

My name is Rafala. I'm a Pegasus, I'm incredibly hyperactive and crazy, and ponies always look at me and comment about how I'm so 'cheerful and amiable'.

Really, though, I'm filled with sorrow.

My coat is a vibrant, brilliant green and my mane and tail are long, spiky, and purple. I wear purple bands on my hind legs as well, and my feathers are purple. I have no cutie mark yet.

I used to have a boyfriend. His name was Scamper, and he was one of the most delightful ponies I've ever met. He was a nice pony, always putting others before him and always, like me, bouncing off the walls with energy.

That is, until he lost his parents and his house to a strong storm.

Back then we lived in Cloudsdale, and the weather was looking nasty. Ominous black clouds loomed over us, and time and time again lightning would strike. The wind was strong, and as we were walking down the street trying to get to his parents' house for shelter, a tornado formed in the distance and came rushing for the city.

When it made contact with the city, an earsplitting crack broke out as an enormous pillar fell over, impeding our progress. The wind picked up, and Scamper's teal mane was billowing in it. He was determined and beckoned me to climb up the pillar with him, and when we did we saw that the tornado was about to make contact with his house. It was helpless. There was nothing we could do.

When the vortex struck, it was merciless. It left behind nothing of his home, destroying it completely and leaving nothing but a pile of rubble behind. The storm continued, leaving destruction in its wake, but rather than pay attention to the world around him, Scamper just stopped and stared at the ruin, his mouth gaping open in shock as if he was struggling to comprehend that he had just lost his own parents. He fell to his knees, then to his face, and remained there through the whole storm, not moving, not even making any noise.

Seeing him so sad made me try to comfort him, but in vain. His pain couldn't be eased.

From then on, he would always seem to be deprived of sleep, his eyes purple from tears. He would look like he didn't know what to do with his life anymore. He started talking about how his being had no purpose anymore, and eventually I heard about his suicide on the news.

When I went to his funeral, I was crying to myself the entire time. I couldn't believe that it had happened. It made me wonder why nopony was trying to stop the storm. It made me wonder so many things; it made me so filled with sorrow.

Since then, I've turned into an absolute freak. I've started cutting myself at night and then crying myself to sleep.

I've tried to end my own life on multiple occasions, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm too afraid.

I remember one night, I came incredibly close to killing myself. I had a sharpened knife held in my hooves, and I was holding it up to my neck. My heart pounded as I brought the blade closer to my body until I felt the cold steel pressing against my coat. I was sweating and crying silently at this point, gasping and battling against myself. Trying to decide whether death was worth it or not.

I slit a small cut in my throat…

Then I threw the knife across the room and collapsed onto my bed, soaking it in my own tears and blood.

I've gone on psychological rampages before and even gotten myself thrown in jail, much to my parents' dismay.

Recently I've been filled with pain and suffering, both internally and externally. Like Scamper, I feel like nothing is left for me. I can't see a purpose in life anymore.

Like I said, my parents have also lost all hope in me. They feel like I really don't have a reason to exist anymore. The parents I used to love so much despise me now. And that's sad. I want to love them. I really do. But I just can't do that anymore. They won't tolerate it.

I would do anything to get their love back. Even if they sold me into sex slavery, I still have a soft spot for them. It's just the way things are supposed to be.

Despite this, I'd never hope to see the stallion who enslaved me ever again. He goes under the pseudonym 'Deluxe', and he's just a pig.

He looks at mares like we're just something that stallions can have their way with.

The large, black-coated and gray-maned stallion used two other mares and I as his slaves, and we've been held up by our hooves, whipped, and raped more than I care to remember. Eventually I managed to escape from him by flying away, but I've always felt bad for the other two mares, and wondered how they're holding up.

Despite all the things Deluxe did to us, I don't feel mad at him as much as I feel sorry for myself. Often I start to weep uncontrollably just by reflecting on my past.

In fact, that's what I was doing on that most unfortunate day. The cherry of despair that tops off the ice cream sundae that is my mournful life.

It was a dark and stormy night, and I was walking through a black forest in the rain, crying to myself about everything that had happened to me prior. Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of harsh yellow magic flew towards my torso and I was hit by it.

I passed out.

Then, I found myself at the feet of the great Rex Aurora. He was cheerful and smiling, claiming that he found how sad I was and was warmly welcoming me here, willing to offer the best hospitality he could. Because of how desperate I was, I accepted his 'help', but had I known more about what was going on, I would have fled.

That's right; he just used me to give himself more power. He filled me with some sort of golden material that's making me weaker and easier to be manipulated by him. And you know what; I've had enough of being used as a tool. Especially since he's ditched me and left me for dead here in this barren wasteland of a country. Inversus.

Next to me is another pony, a young mare with a pink mane, a pink coat, a pink tail, basically pink everything, then blue eyes.

I sigh and say unenthusiastically, "Hi, who-"

Then she interrupts me, bounding up and down with joy.

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?!"

She grins widely, even despite the bruises I've put on her face. She seems very energetic like me, only much, much happier.

"Rafala," I reply nonchalantly. "What's your life like?"

"Ooh, it's SUPER!" She seems very happy to be sharing these things with me. She must like making new friends. A small smile appears on my face.

"I help Mr. and Mrs. Cake make all kinds of sweets at the Sugarcube Corner and everypony is my friend! It's awesome, and I throw a lot of parties!"

Yes, she's a friendly one.

"Well, my life really isn't as great as yours. At all."

She opens her mouth, not smiling anymore.

"I don't want to talk about it..."

"Okie doke!" She goes back to smiling.

"We need to save Celestia, Rafala! If we don't then we'll be trapped here FOREVER!"

"Yeah, I know. The odds really aren't in our favor though."

"Come on, we can do it! I carry an Element of Harmony!"

"Well that's true."

"Just believe in yourself!"

"...'K. Well, let's go," I say as I spread my wings and get ready for takeoff, but then I notice the abnormally dark and low clouds. I won't be able to see a thing in that, and I would have been leaving Pinkie behind anyway. I fold my wings again and stretch.

"We're gonna have to go on foot," I say to her.

So she bounds in place, as if she's warming up, and asks me, "Where to?"

"Well, I got there by heading left relative to whatever direction you're facing when you're looking away from Rex Aurora's fortress, so we're headed towards that abyss. That's the only way that I can guarantee a ticket to Equestria."

"An abyss?"

"...Yeah."

"Okay."

She seems hesitant.

"Don't worry; you'll probably be able to make the jump."

"JUMP?"

"Yeah. There's no bridge there, but the side that you jump from is higher up than the side you'll be aiming for."

"Okay. How deep is it...?"

"I couldn't see the bottom."

She looks very nervous at this point.

"You'll be fine, stop worrying. Just get a running start."

"Okay."

"Let's go."

I start running towards the general direction of the abyss, flapping my wings to give myself some extra momentum.

Pinkie is moving rather slowly, especially by her standards.

"Remember what you said about Celestia, Pinkie."

She starts to move faster, eventually catching up to me.

It demands a lot of energy, but after 10 or so minutes we reach the abyss.

I stop and tell her to do the same, leaving us both hunched over, panting and sweating.

"Okay..." I say between gasps of air.

"Yeah," she replies, equally exhausted.

I feel like I could fall asleep on the spot, but I just can't do that right now. Not at a time like this.

The abyss is ahead. It's some 15 feet wide, but with a diving board-like landform sticking out from our side, which I think should let Pinkie get over there.

"You ready for this?" I ask her, still panting.

"Yes."

"Okay, well just go back 20 feet or so and make a mad dash for the diving board-looking thing, then jump."

She nods and goes back a fair distance, then starts her run towards the platform. My heart is pounding, and I'm constantly wondering if she'll make it or not. I'm sure she's wondering as well.

She gets closer to the platform, eventually reaching it and jumping, flying through the air, reaching for the other edge.

She missed, but she managed to grab onto the ledge, hanging on for dear life, yet still slipping off.

"RAFALA, HELP!"

I run towards the edge then jump off and glide to the opposite edge, then pull her up.

She thanks me and throws her forelegs around me in gratitude, her face beaming.

But then we hear a deep, loud growl coming from a nearby forest.

I get Pinkie off of me and get into a stance, ready to leap into the air at the minutest threat.

The threat, however, is not minute at all. A Timberwolf, its eyes glowing and filled with malice, leaps out of the foliage with its claws extended.

I manage to push Pinkie out of the way and then jump to the side. The Timberwolf rears up on its hind legs and turns around, shakes, as if warming up, and then charges at me, even following me whenever I strafe to avoid it. So I back down a step, only to slip off the abyss. My front legs shoot up to grab hold of the edge, and the Timberwolf remains there, swiping at me with its claws whenever I try to pull myself up.

Then Pinkie kicks it square in the head, sending it tumbling back several feet, and letting me get back up.

"Thanks, Pinkie."

"No problem!" She yells, grinning widely.

The Timberwolf then leaps onto her and starts scratching at her with its claws, inflicting deep cuts in the pink pony's body and having her completely pinned down.

I leap onto the Timberwolf and rip out one of its wooden ribs, causing it to keel over in pain. Pinkie bucks it in the stomach which sends both it and me flying, with me going dangerously close to the abyss. However, the stick I was holding scrapes against the edge of the stone, which causes it to ignite. The Timberwolf backs up in fear.

I put the stick in my mouth and charge at the Timberwolf, making it flee. However, the wind picks up significantly and makes the stick extinguish, and also makes me fall over on my side. The wooden creature then leaps up on top of me and practically tears me to pieces with its claws. I shout and yell in distress, and Pinkie comes up, picks up and lights the stick, and throws it at the Timberwolf while it's still on top of me.

The beast ignites and I do with it, finding myself suddenly engulfed with the terrible pain of flames covering my body. I shake furiously to extinguish myself.

"PINKIE, YOU NITWIT!"

"SORRY!"

I groan in frustration, then watch the wolf burn, slowly turning to ashes but at the same time getting angrier and attacking us much more aggressively, adding a new level of threat to the already frightening beast.

It charges straight at me, and I have no choice but to jump directly up and hope it doesn't jump and grab me. Unfortunately, though, it does and I catch light again while also feeling its claws dig into my torso. I start to shriek and frantically shake the thing off while in midair, then we go tumbling down the abyss.

Somehow, I'm able to grab onto the edge of the abyss and hang on while still getting ruthlessly clawed by the Timberwolf. I call out to Pinkie.

"PINKIE! GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!"

I see Pinkie come on by, looking at me and looking somewhat frightened, probably at the thought of combusting or getting attacked by the Timberwolf.

"PINKIE, IF YOU DON'T PULL ME UP THEN EQUESTRIA IS GOING TO DIE!"

She still hesitated.

"REX AURORA IS A CONTROL FREAK! EVERYPONY WILL BECOME HIS SLAVES, AND IF YOU DISOBEY HE **MURDERS** YOU! HE'S NOT GOING TO SPARE ANYPONY! SO HELP! **ME!** **_NOW!_**"

Pinkie took a deep breath and grabbed onto my outstretched hoof, setting herself alight and shouting in pain. We manage to pull me up and I successfully shake the Timberwolf off. Then I kick it down the abyss.

I'm still on fire and I shake spastically again to extinguish myself, then I leap up onto my pink partner to extinguish her as well.

I'm hurt badly. The monster had driven its claws deep into me and cut me up severely in several places, and I'm suffering severe burns all over my body.

I'm bleeding unbelievably heavy, but I can't feel the pain. A sure sign that my nerves have been destroyed, meaning I've underwent third degree burns. Pinkie is a few feet ahead. I take a few limping, awkward, pathetic steps toward her…

Then I close my eyes and fall on my side.

(Pinkie POV)

Rafala was walking towards me. Blood was gushing out of the many wounds on her body, and her face was looking whitish. Then she collapsed and fell on the ground. I gasped.

I walked towards her slowly, prodding her with my nose, trying to get her to wake up, but she just lay there, covering the grass in her blood, leaving a large red stain on the ground.

I pick her up, hoist her onto my back, and walk the rest of the way to Equestria.

I see Ponyville in the distance, burning and in ruins. I can see it completely smothered with the Dawn King's magic.

I run towards there, Rafala in tow, headed for Ponyville's square, the location of Rex Aurora's new throne.

When I arrive there, I lay Rafala down.

Rex Aurora gets down from his throne.


	10. Chapter 10: Of the Scorching Sands

Okay, I feel I should warn you that this chapter is **VERY** brutal.

Both physically and emotionally.

Sensitive people, go ahead and skip to Chapter 11 when it exists.

* * *

(Dirge POV)

Nopony understands me.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover...

Simply put, nopony knows what I'm going through.

My name is Dirge. I'm small, I'm swift, and I'm highly aggressive. My coat is the color of the sands of a vast desert, and my mane and tail are both long and black with red streaks in them. My cutie mark is a skull, but my special talent is a talent I wish I'd never mastered.

My life is simply miserable. I've never experienced true happiness before because my whole life is just one tragedy after another.

First, my childhood. When I was just a colt, 2 years old, my mother died when I was with her. As my home is a desert, we had run out of water and we had to go look for some more. I remember that day in photographic detail. We were walking along a sand dune slowly, dying of thirst. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on us, and we couldn't find water anywhere.

The wind whistled in my ears, almost like it was trying to tell me something. It was warning me…

Warning my mother as well.

Then, we reached the top of the hill, and a yellow scorpion, camouflaged with the sand, scurried up to my mother, staring at her with its tiny, black eyes. It then climbed onto her leg and ascended up onto her head, going completely unnoticed by both of us. But then it jammed its stinger into her head.

Suddenly, my mother let out a terrible noise. It wasn't even a scream. It was the sound of her being in more pain than she could possibly bear. She suffered for a few seconds, shaking around, and then fell over onto her side. I ran over to her and tried to save her. She didn't even have the strength left to scream anymore. She just looked at me, and tried to reach towards me. But she didn't have enough life left in her, and she went limp.

I was in shock. At the young age of 2, my mother had died right before my eyes. The expression on her face as she went limp and just the whole situation… changed me.

My father decided to take his anger out on me.

He would always beat me and even cut me with a knife for not doing everything for him.

I remember the night I came home. I had been nomadically wandering the sands for 4 years, and when I came back my father didn't even seem happy about my return.

Instead, he asked me about my mother.

"Dirge… where is your mother?" he asked me, walking up to me and looming over me.

I had been thinking about her constantly. I was barely able to let any words escape my mouth.

"She… is dead…"

Then my father looked at me, his eyes filled with hatred.

"You failed to save your mother…"

I just looked at him.

"You have no meaning, Dirge!"

Then he forcefully grasped me, took me down into the basement, where I had never been, and strapped me to a table.

He grabbed a knife.

"D-dad? What's going on, Dad?"

He then shoved the knife deep into my stomach.

My blood spewed out of the wound, and unbearable pain shot through me. My father had just near-fatally wounded me.

I couldn't do anything but scream in anguish and shake frantically, trying to break free from the straps. But I couldn't, they were too strong, and I too weak, especially with the blade embedded inside me.

My father went on to grieve my mother's passing as long as I stayed with him, asking me to do everything for him. Suddenly I was his slave. Almost like I was being punished for not saving her.

In which case I was being punished for something I could never prevent.

After 3 years, my massive wound had fully healed, and I had somehow not died because of it. But through those years, and for 4 more after that, my father still mistreated me, cutting me, whipping me, and stabbing me daily. He told me to take these punishments and others 'like a true stallion would'.

Those words are the only ones that came out of his mouth that have gotten me anywhere in life.

Then one day, when I was 13, my father committed the ultimate sin, and he did the thing that made me truly despise him.

The market in Dezonora, the desert land where I was born, is a place where everything can be legally sold. No exceptions.

My father walked up to me on that day while I was straightening up our house and told me something.

"Dirge, we're going to the Market."

So I finished up my work and walked alongside him, feeling tiny and unimportant compared to him and his black coat and red mane and tail.

When we arrived at the bustling market, the first thing I saw, aside from all the ponies there, was the large pedestal in the center of it, which is not normally there as far as I know.

My father took me over to the pedestal and led me down some sort of secret passage beneath it, spiraling down until I saw a sort of cage there. Neither of us said a word, but I did wonder what was going on. I didn't dare ask him.

Then he did the unspeakable, suddenly grabbing me and tossing me in the cage in the center of the dim lit room. Throughout this, I just stared at him, wide-eyed. I knew there was nothing I could do, and he knew it too. He just walked back up.

A few seconds later, I felt the cage moving up like an elevator until it rose up to be on top of the pedestal. Then, from within the cramped cage, I saw many ponies crowded around the pedestal, looking at me. Then I heard my father's voice.

"FOR SALE, ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY WILL DO, THANK YOU. A slave of mine, he goes by 'Dirge'. Male, 13 years of age. Willing to work for anypony."

He continued spouting all the information about me, even the lies. I didn't say anything, because even if I tried to resist, there was nothing I would have been able to do. 'A slave of mine…' 'Willing to work…' I felt like I was about to break down and cry, but I couldn't do that in front of the masses.

I kept my emotions bottled up, sitting there as everypony got the wrong impression about me. Eventually, some ponies in white coats came along, made a deal with my father, paid him, and then picked up the cage, taking me back to a lab.

They set me down in a small chamber and then left, sealing the door behind them. The chamber, small, dirty, and cramped, with lights on the verge of dying, was just as miserable and dark as the rest of my life. All they did was take notes on my behavior. Of course, there was no way out. The only window was near the ceiling, and the door may as well have been indestructible.

Then one day, they came in with a vaccine while I was asleep.

One of them, levitating the syringe with magic, approached me and then jabbed it violently into my neck. I woke up instantly, shaking around violently, trying to pull the syringe out. I turned around to face the two of them, and they seemed taken aback for some reason. The two of them ran out of the room and sealed the door behind them again, leaving me to lie there as the vaccine took effect.

It changed me.

I started to notice my teeth getting very sharp. I started to become very fast, to the point of being able to run around the perimeter of the room in no less than five seconds. I started to get steadily angrier, getting a temper so short that bumping into the wall as I ran made me want to tear down the wall.

The scientists were looking at me through the window, and I got into an attacking stance. I was ready to murder them if I got the chance. Then I ran towards the wall and actually got enough speed to run up the wall.

I smashed through the window and looked at the five scientists observing me with pure malice coursing through me. After spending 11 years filled with unreleasable sorrow, the sadness suddenly transformed into pure, utter rage that I was able to release.

I pounced onto one of the scientists, a Pegasus, and bit down on his wing, feeling my sharp teeth sink into his flesh and tasting blood. He yelled in pain and tried to kick me out of the window, but in retaliation I bit onto his neck and killed him, smashing another window pane with his body as I threw him into the chamber.

The other four scientists ran away from me, galloping down the tunnel in fear and scattering around the facility except for one, who decided to take me on. He was a big brute, and he rolled up his sleeves while I brushed my hoof against the ground, ready to strike at any moment.

He leapt towards me, about to smash me under his weight, but I managed to jump out of the way and spin around, slamming him in the face with one of my hooves.

He fell backwards, rearing up slightly in pain. I then leaped onto him and bit into his chest, resulting in him flailing around like a bug flipped onto its side trying to get up. I left him for dead and started to hunt down the other 3.

I dashed down the hallway, destroying everything I saw in my fury. I knocked down lights, smashed tables, and created cracks in the walls. After a while I saw one of them, phoning for help by a control panel.

"We have a severe problem here! One of our test subjects has gone on a rampage-"

Then I leaped onto him and started mauling him. He tried to run away, but I was much too fast for him, reaching him and literally tearing off one of his hind legs.

He howled in pain and I threw the leg behind me. It felt incredibly satisfying to just mutilate him after everything I'd been through. I walked toward him and stood on top of him, grinning with my new, sharp, bloody teeth. He looked absolutely mortified, and I saw in his eyes a reflection of my eyes, which now looked brown, twisted, and with tiny pupils. I stared into him, then grabbed him and smashed him against the wall.

Up ahead was yet another one, shocked at what he just saw. He tried to run away, but I caught up to him, bit into his neck, and then tossed him out the window and into another test chamber.

After ascending to the top of the facility, I finally found the unicorn who actually jabbed me with the syringe.

We were at the top of a huge staircase, and he was reaching for a phone as well. He dialed a number, but then I leapt onto him and bit down hard on his hooves. He howled in pain, dropping the phone which I then proceeded to smash to pieces.

Then I picked him up and threw him off the staircase.

But after that, I suddenly came to my senses. I saw a poster on the wall.

It said, 'DNA Hybrid Transplant Vaccine'. It depicts a pony getting jabbed with a syringe that apparently contains the DNA of a tiger. I realized that that pony is me, and that I was, and am, part tiger.

The effects were extremely strong early on. So strong, in fact, that I became a completely different pony. It took over me, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself from slaughtering those scientists.

After that, I became renowned and feared. Ponies have started calling me things like 'The Sand Tiger' and 'The Galloping Nightmare', thinking that that's the kind of pony I am. I wish they would stop, because in reality I've just lost my way. They just don't realize that I'm, beneath all my mutations, just a pony who has been led in the wrong direction. I've lost my way.

After realizing that I had killed five scientists, the animal control unit of Dezonora came looking for me. ANIMAL control.

It became clear to me that I had to run; I had to run from them, from the factory, from my parents, and from Dezonora, because nopony cared about me. I realized that I would never find true happiness.

So I ran. I used my speed to my advantage and got away from them safely.

Then, after I saw what is called 'grass' for the first time, I got hit square in the head with magic and woke up to find myself inside a fortified building, standing before Rex Aurora, and after 2 more years of wrongful imprisonment I find myself here, in the quiet lands of Inversus, about to go forth to put him out of power.

I've been paired up with a bright yellow Pegasus mare, who has a long, pink, well-brushed mane. I remember Rex Aurora possessing me, forcing me to almost kill her, and now I wonder how we can possibly work out our differences after that.

I approach her and open my mouth slowly, about to start talking to her, but I find myself fumbling for words.

The mare turns away from me defensively and starts shivering. It almost seems like she's crying a little.

I lick my teeth. They're covered in dry blood.

"I'm sorry, mare," I say to her in my most soothing voice possible. However, it comes out harsh and raspy due to the mutations.

The mare seems to be trying to squeeze herself as closely as she can into a ball, whimpering.

I try not to go on another furious tangent at the scientists for doing this to me.

"I'm not what you think I am. I wasn't always like this. It's not my fault I tried to kill you, it's Rex Aurora's fault and we have to go knock him off his throne."

She's still cowering.

"Scientists have done experiments on me. They've turned me into this THING I am now. My mother died when I was young, my father always hurt me, and I don't know how to feel happiness or love. My life is terrible."

Then I hear her speak in a tiny, barely audible voice.

"T-tell me... about your life."

So I do. I tell her everything that's happened to me, up from my childhood to my testing to my escape to my imprisonment. Up until now. She seems to realize that I'm pathetic deep down, and that she should have sympathy for me.

"...okay..."

"So. We need to get through here together if we're going to take that gray Alicorn down. Are you with me?"

She stands up, still shaking a little. She thinks it over and eventually nods her head once.

"Yes."

She seems reluctant to say it.

"What is your name, anyway?"

"Fluttershy..."

"That's a great name."

"Thanks..."

"Anyway, I know a way to get to Equestria from here," I say, pointing to the north-eastern portion of the kingdom. "There's a cave there, though, and it's pretty dark. Stick with me so you won't get lost, alright?"

"...okay..." says Fluttershy quietly. The thought of a cave seems to scare her.

"I'll stay by your side in the cave, now let's go."

With that we set off toward the cave.

I dash towards the cave at full speed, wasting no time. We need to get there as soon as possible to take Rex Aurora down.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, is fluttering towards the cave at a considerably slower pace with a worried look on her face as she says, "Please wait up..."

So I slow down to a trot as she floats towards the cave.

She asks, "What's your name?"

"Dirge," I say, "But nopony calls me that. All the scientists called me 'Arena Mannulus', everypony who's from where I'm from called me other things like 'Sand Tiger' or 'Galloping Nightmare'. But please, PLEASE just call me Dirge."

"Okay, Dirge."

I sigh in relief.

"Can we pick up the pace a little? This is important."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"There's a cave up there, and caves scare me."

"Then I'll..."

I think about this.

"I'll hold your hoof?"

She didn't go any faster.

"I'll... Let you ride on my back."

Still nothing.

"I'll stick with you throughout the whole cave no matter what."

She isn't speeding up.

I groan. "You know that big, powerful, white Alicorn with a rainbow-colored mane and tail?"

She perks up slightly. "Princess Celestia..."

That sounds like a nicely fitting name for a pony with that appearance, so I guess she knows who I'm talking about.

"Good. Does she rule your kingdom, or whatever you want to call it?"

Despite our slow progress, we're getting relatively close to the cave now.

"Yes, she does, but now she's gone..."

"Well if we don't move faster, we might never dethrone Rex Aurora, and if that happens, you'll never see her again. Ever."

"C-Celestia!" She whimpers, and she moves considerably faster toward the cave, almost like she wants to go there. So I speed up as well.

We get to the mouth of the cave. Inside, it looks incredibly dark and dreary, and water droplets can be heard falling from the ceiling occasionally.

Fluttershy walks in slowly, trembling and hunched over.

I walk up right next to her.

"Okay, let's take this slow..." I say, but then suddenly she darts forth at high speeds.

"We need to save Celestia!" She calls.

"Okay," I say back. I pick up a branch on the ground in my mouth and scrape it against a stalagmite on my right to light it. Then I run up to Fluttershy's left and start galloping alongside her.

"Okay," I say, panting while running.

"This place is confusing, so it might take a while to get through here. There's a way to get from here straight to the back alleys of the town where the transfer of power happened. So turn right when you see three stalactites next to each other on the ceiling, then immediately take a left."

The bright orange light brought on by the fire flickered and flashed around the cave as we traversed it at high speeds. I can hear the wind whistling in my ears. I look to my left and Fluttershy is still at my side, running with a confident look on her face. Then I look up at the ceiling and see the three stalactites.

I stop.

"Stop, turn right!"

She jumps and lands on all her hooves at the same time, skidding and slipping around slightly before turning and going to where I directed her. Then she turns left and continues going. I follow suit, which leads us to a circular clearing. Ahead of us is a kind of circular staircase-looking land form that rises up into a hole in the ceiling, through which a circle of Rex Aurora's golden yellow sunlight glows onto the ground. I toss my makeshift torch behind me, as I no longer have need for it.

We hear a growl, and it takes me aback. I see the silhouette of what seems to be a lion comes into view, growling. But then I notice a pair of bat-like wings and ears.

It must be a Manticore.

I've heard legends about these creatures. They're fierce and ruthless, and it's often said that they eat their victims completely, not even leaving bones or clothing. This cave must belong to the Manticore, as it doesn't seem happy about us being here. It snarls at us, baring its large, sharp teeth. Fluttershy backs up with a shocked look on her face.

Okay, first I've got to get Fluttershy to safety.

"Fluttershy, go hide!"

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll handle this!"

She walks away and hides behind the wall, looking seemingly afraid, or disappointed. I don't know how to describe it.

Dirge, focus on the battle.

Okay, first I need to pay attention to the bottoms of its paws. It's often said that thorns in their paws can make them angry.

It rears up on its hind legs and strikes, and I slide between its legs and get onto the staircase-looking thing. It doesn't have thorns in its front paws. Then the beast charges at the wall in an attempt to knock me down. It succeeds and I fall down behind it, but in the sunlight I can see that it has no thorn in its back paws either. So it's just territorial. Alright.

The Manticore then charges right at me with its mouth open, and I get out of the way and climb onto its back. From there I start biting it, and a stream of black blood spews from its wounds in a steady stream. Then it shakes around, leaving me unable to keep a hold of it, and sending me flying into the wall. Then it shows its scorpion-like tail and I soften up considerably.

Ever since my mother was killed by a scorpion's venom, I've had a strong fear of scorpions.

I back down, which is a very, VERY bad idea.

The Manticore, having discovered my weakness, seems to be grinning at me as it continues to make me walk backwards. I eventually am forced out of the circular clearing until I can see Fluttershy out of the corner of my eyes. I look at her, and her eyes meet mine. She seems to be horrified.

I bare my teeth at the Manticore, but I can't make myself look imposing with my small size and fear of its tail.

It swipes its tail and I slip, and then realize that I've walked backwards right off of a ledge, leading down into a pit. Who knows how deep...

My hind legs slip down and I flail them around, using my fore legs to hang on for dear life, but it's useless. It swings its tail down and I fall.

(Fluttershy POV)

Dirge fell.

He fell down a pit.

I walk towards the pit slowly, but I back up because I might fall down. Then I turn towards the Manticore, and it roars in triumph, its forelegs raised. It doesn't have any thorns in its feet, so I don't know what to do...

If I fight it, I'll surely lose. If Dirge couldn't win, I'd definitely die against it, so I start towards the hole in the ceiling. Then I think about how I would feel if I was Dirge. I wouldn't want to have my friend guide me all the way here and get ditched after falling down a pit. If he died, surely he would want me to at least try to avenge him.

Even if Dirge almost killed me, even if I only knew him for a month, I truly feel for him and all he's been through. He's had to cope with the loss of a mother, being abused by his father, being ruthlessly tested on, hunted, imprisoned, and then ditched. And he's helped me conquer my fear of caves and, all in all, he's been very good to me and I need to avenge him, even if I am unsure of his fate.

So I back down off of the staircase and fly up on top of the Manticore, and I start attacking it using various twisting and slamming motions with my forelegs will keeping a hold of it with my hind legs.

However, it's still not enough. The Manticore grabs me with its tail, thrashes me around violently, and then slams me up against the wall. I start to drift away, and I can't be sure if I'm falling unconscious or dying.

-5 hours later-

(Dirge POV)

My eyelids are fluttering, and I'm awakening. I'm still alive. Even after that huge fall I had, I'm alive. But I'm not well.

It seems like all my legs except my front left are broken, and my back just aches with pain. I'm cut up badly, presumably from the stalagmites all around me, and I'm bleeding golden blood.

Golden...

Rex Aurora's getting to me.

Then I remember Fluttershy, and I wonder how I'm going to help her. Is she even alive?

My blood runs cold.

She's probably dead.

I try to stand up with my one working leg, and I climb up using the stalagmites as footholds. I'm panting and I'm bleeding, and suddenly I realize that my mask has been destroyed, and my mane has been revealed.

It's been a good mask. I hate to part with it.

I limp towards the edge of the pit. It's not as deep as I thought it was, but it'll still be a long climb. Holding all my weight on just one leg, I climb onto a stalactite on the side of the pit, and then I hoist myself up onto it with much difficulty. The spike gets covered in my blood, and it feels like I'm slowly dying, but I have to get to Fluttershy, even if I have one working leg.

I leap from this stalactite to another one and repeat the process until I reach a stalactite parallel to the edge of the pit from which I fell. I take a leap of faith...

My heart is racing as I fly through the air, and it feels like I'm going in slow motion.

I'm just a few inches short.

I manage to grab onto the ledge with my hoof and start pulling myself up. After a lengthy climb, it feels like I'm completely out of energy, like I'm fading away, but after remembering that I need to see if Fluttershy is okay, I receive a boost of determination and clamber up onto the edge of the pit. I start limping forth, going towards the now fading circle of light slowly. I see the Manticore sleeping, and my heart is pounding loudly as I look around, trying to find Fluttershy.

I see her up against the wall, not moving, seeming to have sustained many injuries.

I walk up to the Manticore.

I clamber on top of the Manticore.

I bite down on the Manticore's neck, and it suddenly stands up and roars in pain, flailing around, but I keep my grip on it.

I notice that Fluttershy has woken up, and she's waving frantically, as if she's trying to tell me something.

I hear her say 'get off'.

Then I feel a piercing pain in my head, as if my skull has been broken, and I stumble and fall off the beast's back as it dies.

It hurts so much that I can't even scream. I reach out to Fluttershy, and she runs up to me with tears in her eyes and starts shaking me...

My eyes close...

(Fluttershy POV)

Dirge couldn't hear me over the Manticore's roaring, and in its final moments it stabbed him in the head with its scorpion tail. Then Dirge tumbled off its back, with its stinger embedded in his forehead, and walked towards me, taking a few weak steps before falling onto his side. As his last leg goes up, he looks into my eyes, almost like he's trying to reach out to me.

I run up to him with tears in my eyes and start shaking him.

"Dirge! Are you okay? Speak to me!"

He goes limp.

I gasp and then bury my face in his mane, wetting it with a stream of tears. I feel so sorry for him, dying without ever knowing love or happiness...

I hoist him onto my back. Maybe there's still a way for me to bring him back. Maybe he still has a chance...

So I walk up the staircase, under the golden light of Rex Aurora's power, and get out of the cave.

After some navigation of twists and turns, I find myself in the middle of Ponyville, near Rex Aurora's throne, with all my best friends and all Rex Aurora's captives there as well.

Rex Aurora gets down from his throne.


End file.
